Department for Transport

Bus Services

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reform the bus industry to expand not-for-profit services on commercial routes.

Jesse Norman: The Department for Transport recognises the important role which both commercial and not-for-profit operators play in providing vital services to communities. We have no plans to reform the bus industry to expand not-for-profit services on commercial routes.

Railways: Concessions

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost will be of his proposed policy on the railcard for ages 26 to 30 years; how that policy proposal will be funded; and when he plans to introduce that railcard on all franchises.

Paul Maynard: The government will work with industry to extend the benefits of discounted rail travel to ensure those aged 16 to 30 can access appropriate concessions. This will include the introduction of a new railcard for ages 26 to 30, which the government anticipates will increase the number of journeys taken. Further details will be announced in agreement with the rail industry in due course.

Bus Services: Disability

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Bus Services Act 2017, when he plans to issue the guidance and regulations on audio-visual next stop announcements.

Jesse Norman: The Bus Services Act 2017 incorporates powers to introduce an Accessible Information Requirement, mandating the provision of audible and visible information on local bus services in Great Britain.We are currently working with stakeholders to develop the detail of the requirement, including timescales for its implementation, with a view to consulting publicly in 2018. Following consideration of the consultation responses, we expect to publish Regulations and accompanying guidance when the Parliamentary timetable permits.

Electric Vehicles

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse is of (a) installing and (b) subsidising (i) uni-directional and (ii) bi-directional charge points for electric vehicles within the UK.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the amount of money projected to be invest by 2025 in (a) installing and (b) subsidising (i) uni-directional and (ii) bi-directional charge points for electric vehicles within the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) uni-directional and (b) bi-directional charge points for electric vehicles installed in the UK by 2025; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 5 December 2017 (UIN’s, 115927, 115928, 115929).

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with the exception of electric vehicles, what policies and options his Department has assessed as feasible routes to decarbonise petrol vehicles before 2040.

Jesse Norman: I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 5 December 2017 (UIN 115930).

Wheels to Work Schemes

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on funding of Wheels to Work schemes: and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The Department’s Access Fund in 2016 was promoted as funding access to new and existing employment, training, and education. During the competition, the Department welcomed bids for funding that supported or developed Wheels to Work schemes in their area. Schemes which benefited from the Access Fund include Wheels 2 Work Leicestershire and Rutland.

Buses: Tyres

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2017 to Question 113095 on buses: tyres, whether the estimated cost of £200,000 for including a check on the age of tyres as part of the annual MOT is estimated on an annual basis.

Jesse Norman: The estimated cost of £200,000 for including a check on the age of tyres as part of the annual MOT is estimated on an annual basis.

Railways: Leigh

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 114760, on railways: Leigh, whether his Department will commit to make an assessment of the costs and benefits of a direct train line and station to the town of Leigh.

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November to Question 114760, on railway: Leigh, what criteria his Department uses to commission an assessment into the costs and benefits of a direct train line and station to an area.

Paul Maynard: The Government’s policy is that it is for local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to determine the best way to meet local transport needs and take the first step in evaluating benefits and prioritising available resources. We are happy to work with promoters to develop their scheme to ensure that it is deliverable and gives value for money as well as being affordable. Promoters of new stations are directed to the recent research document published by the Campaign for Better Transport “Expanding the Railways”. Endorsed by the Department, this provides advice and guidance to organisations seeking to open or reopen railway lines and stations.

Offshore Industry: Helicopters

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what regular assessments have been made by the Government of insurance underwriting trends for offshore helicopter operations since January 2009.

Mr John Hayes: The Civil Aviation Authority monitors the ability of UK operators to obtain insurance. The ability of UK license holders to obtain insurance cover is dependent upon the insurer’s assessment of relevant risks in relation to an individual license holder. The CAA advises that such cover in the market in general has been readily obtainable over the period in question, and the overall market trend of such premiums has been downwards.

Taxis: Equality

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if will issue statutory guidance to licensing authorities requiring disability equality training as a license condition for all drivers.

Mr John Hayes: Taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) services must be accessible to those who rely upon them, and disability awareness training can be effective in equipping drivers with the skills and knowledge to provide all passengers with the assistance they require. The Department is currently considering the responses to the consultation on the draft Accessibility Action Plan which will inform the updated Best Practice Guidance for taxi and PHV licensing authorities. It is the Department’s expectation that the guidance will include a recommendation that authorities should use their existing powers to require prospective drivers to complete disability awareness and equality training.There are however no existing powers to give this guidance statutory status. I announced in a Westminster Hall debate that I would be setting up a working group to consider current issues concerning taxi and PHV licensing. That group will report its findings to me in the new year.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the non-payment of vehicle tax.

Jesse Norman: More than 98% of vehicles on the road are properly licensed, meaning that the vast majority of drivers comply with the law. It has never been easier to license a vehicle and motorists can also spread payments across the year using direct debit. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These include reminder letters, fixed penalties, court prosecutions, the use of automatic number plate recognition cameras and the wheelclamping and removal of unlicensed vehicles. The number of unlicensed vehicles clamped or impounded has increased to around 10,000 every month and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will continue to take action against those who do not pay. A major national advertising campaign has also recently been launched which targets vehicle excise duty evaders.

East Anglia Railway Line

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to the economy of (a) Essex and (b) the UK of a passing loop north of Witham on the Great Eastern Main Line.

Paul Maynard: The proposal to install passing loops north of Witham on the Great Eastern Main Line is one of a series of potential capacity upgrades for the line. The proposals are at an early stage of development, with initial feasibility work yet to be carried out.

Department for Transport: Assets

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the value of the assets for which his Department is responsible.

Mr John Hayes: The government is undertaking a wide range of analysis covering the entirety of the UK and considering carefully all the potential implications arising from the UK’s exit from the EU. The Autumn Budget proves that the government is committed to continuing to invest in transport infrastructure and technology to deliver the best possible base for strong future growth.

A120

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to make a decision on upgrading and dualling the A120 between Braintree and the A12; and what the key performance target criteria are for that decision.

Jesse Norman: Decisions on upgrading the A120 will be made through the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), due to be published in 2019. The Department has supported Essex County Council’s work to appraise enhancement options, which will inform our decision-making. The Department published its key aims for RIS2 investment at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-investment-strategy-post-2020-planning-ahead

Railways: South East

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people born on 3 May 2000 or earlier are in possession of an Oyster Photocard registered in (a) Woking, (b) Gosport, (c) Bromley or (d) Watford local authority who are aged (i) under 24, (ii) 25 to 49, (iii) 50 to 64 and (iv) 65 or older.

Paul Maynard: The Department does not collect Oyster photocard data. This scheme is administered by Transport for London.

Driving: Licensing

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people born on 3 May 2000 or earlier are in possession of a provisional or permanent driving licence registered in (a) Woking, (b) Gosport, (c) Bromley or (d) Watford local authority who are aged (i) under 24, (ii) 25 to 49, (iii) 50 to 64 and (iv) 65 or older.

Jesse Norman: The information is not held in the format requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The link below provides data already published on the number of driving licences held in Great Britain by age and by postcode.https://data.gov.uk/dataset/driving-licence-data

Railway Stations: Disability

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to deliver all deferred Access for All projects by the end of 2020.

Paul Maynard: We are committed to continuing to invest in the accessibility of the railway, which is why the Government’s Statement of Funds Available for Control Period 6 (2019-2024) published on 12 October, includes funding to continue to take forward the enhancements that were deferred from Control Period 5, as well as for continued investment in the accessibility of the railway. Network Rail are continuing to develop the deferred projects and construction will be completed as soon as possible.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of rail journey times between Nottingham and Derby as a result of High Speed 2; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The Department recognises the importance of direct rail connections between Derby and Nottingham, so will maintain such services. Exact service provision will be confirmed before the opening of HS2 in 2033.

Rolling Stock

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the (a) cost and (b) effect on the environment of the development of bi-modal trains?

Paul Maynard: Rolling Stock is procured through a competitive process to achieve best value for money. The Government has been clear that bi-modes are likely to be more expensive than electric only trains, but do provide valuable flexibility. New diesels deliver an overall better environmental performance than existing diesel trains because they are subject to the latest emission standards but also offer the flexibility to operate in electric mode where there are electric wires.

Midland Main Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether all rolling stock on the Midlands Mainline will be compliant with modern accessibility standards by 1 January 2020.

Paul Maynard: It is the responsibility for the operator of the East Midlands franchise to ensure the trains which are currently operated on the Midland Mainline meet modern accessibility standards by 2020. Any trains being introduced on to the line must also be built or modified to be compliant with those standards.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how his Department calculated the distribution of the HS2 Road Safety Fund along the Phase One route.

Paul Maynard: The distribution of the HS2 Road Safety Fund along the Phase One route was calculated on the basis of the estimated volumes of HS2 construction vehicles in each local authority area.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to High Speed 2's Road Safety Fund, what the current allocations for each council are along the Phase One route.

Paul Maynard: The allocations for each authority along the Phase One route are as follows: Local authority AllocationLondon Borough of Camden £2,425,000London Borough of Westminster £1,560,000London Borough of Ealing £1,010,000London Borough of Hillingdon £645,000Hertfordshire County Council £1,165,000Buckinghamshire County Council £3,950,000Slough Borough Council £340,000Oxfordshire County Council £1,140,000Northamptonshire County Council £1,650,000Warwickshire County Council £8,045,000Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council £2,435,000Birmingham City Council £2,660,000Staffordshire County Council £2,975,000Total £30,000,000

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who carried out the assessment for the allocation of HS2's Road Safety Fund.

Paul Maynard: The assessment of the estimated number of construction vehicles in each area was carried out by HS2 Ltd, at the request of the Department for Transport. This was then converted into the relative financial allocations in collaboration between HS2 Ltd and Department for Transport officials.

Department for Transport: Legatum Institute

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings Ministers of his Department have had with representatives of the Legatum Institute in the last 12 months.

Mr John Hayes: There have been no meetings between DfT Ministers and representatives of the Legatum Institute in the last 12 months.

East Coast Rail Franchise

Jared O'Mara: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the early termination of the East Coast rail franchise?

Paul Maynard: As with all recent franchise awards, Stagecoach Group PLC committed parent company support to inject funds into the franchise in circumstances where it doesn’t perform as predicted. We will hold them to that commitment in full. From 2020 we intend to re-let the franchise as the East Coast Partnership, one of the first of a new generation of integrated regional rail operations. This will include appropriate contributions from the new private partner under a long-term competitively procured contract. We are always looking for the best ways to achieve value for money for the taxpayer and the best results for passengers. Reforms will build on the best of the public and private sectors, with private sector involvement bringing innovation, investment and competition.

Railways: Safety

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Personal Track Safety cards issued by Network Rail are currently valid

Paul Maynard: 68,175

Railways: Safety

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Personal Track Safety cardholders  are (a) currently employed by Network Rail and (b) employed by Network Rail’s top 20 suppliers.

Paul Maynard: a) 5,044 b) 16,856

Network Rail: Procurement

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of Network Rail's expenditure on its top 20 supplier companies in each year of the current Control Period was on (a) maintenance, (b) works delivery, (c) renewals, (d) operations and (e) stations; and what the break down was of those costs between (i) labour and (ii) capital in each case.

Paul Maynard: Network Rail is unable to provide a breakdown of the information in the categories requested.

Network Rail: Staff

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of Network Rail's expenditure in each year of (a) Control Period 4 and (b) the current Control Period 5 to date was on (i) in-house and (ii) third-party or contingent labour.

Paul Maynard: % in house% externalCP409/10277310/11277311/12247612/13247613/142080CP514/15217915/16217916/172278 The main reason for the increase in the proportion of external costs over this period is the record level of investment in enhancement projects which have greater involvement from third party contractors.

Network Rail: Cost Effectiveness

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will list the total value of efficiency savings achieved by Network Rail over (a) Control Period 3, (b) Control Period 4 and (c) Control Period 5 to date; and what proportion of that saving was from (i) direct labour costs, (ii) capital expenditure and (iii) debt servicing.

Paul Maynard: Opex – indexEfficiency (17/18 prices £m)03/04100.0 CP304/0587.053705/0679.086706/0775.51,01207/0871.51,17708/0970.01,239CP409/1070.41,22010/1164.21,47911/1259.51,67112/1358.91,69513/1460.31,640CP514/1557.01,77515/1657.01,77416/1755.51,836  Opex savings of 45% have been achieved over the past 13 years using the regulator’s measure of efficiency as set out in the table above. This equates to total savings of nearly £18bn in current prices. Data records are not available to show how much of the efficiency saving made has been due to direct labour costs. Capital expenditure, meanwhile, is not measurable in a comparable way – the value of expenditure can vary significantly each year depending upon the projects being undertaken. In addition, debt servicing is not included when assessing efficiency savings. Network Rail’s interest expense is driven by external factors which are outside their control.

Rolling Stock

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 115572, whether (a) the Great Western Intercity Express Programme bi-mode fleet and (b) the Class 319 flex bi-mode train will have (i) faster or (ii) slower diesel acceleration than the units they will replace.

Paul Maynard: a) The Great Western Intercity Express Programme trains have a different acceleration profile to the High Speed Trains they are replacing. Their performance means they are able to deliver the current timetable and associated journey times and once the planned upgrade programme is complete and the full fleet is in service, are expected to deliver a new timetable with significant passenger benefits including improved frequencies and reduced journey times. b) The Class 319s can run at 100mph in electric mode and are designed to have very similar diesel acceleration to the 75mph units they will replace.

Members: Correspondence

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to reply to my letter of 14 September 2017 on the rail service on the Robin Hood Line in Nottinghamshire.

Paul Maynard: A reply to the honourable member’s letter of 14 September 2017 about improvements to the rail service on the Robin Hood Line was sent on 19 October 2017.

Transport: Finance

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2017 to Question 111812, on Transport: finance for what reasons his Department has not provided figures on the funding granted to each of the organisations in each of the years requested.

Jesse Norman: The figures requested were not provided as the organisations listed, as set out in the previous answer, are not comparable as a result of their vastly different functions and responsibilities. Their publication, therefore, risked presenting a misleading picture.

Railway Stations: Safety

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has made to Network Rail about safety following the recent report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch on the wall collapse at Liverpool Lime Street station; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: Responsibility for ensuring the recommendations of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report on the wall collapse at Liverpool Lime Street Station are considered and, where appropriate, acted on is a matter for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), in its role as Safety Regulator for the Railway.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has issued a directive to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to use some of its financial reserves to buy available residential accommodation for those made homeless by the Grenfell fire.

Alok Sharma: Our priority is ensuring that survivors from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk are provided with a permanent new home in social housing within one year of the fire. We are working closely with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) to support them to deliver this commitment.RBKC has said that rehousing Grenfell survivors continues to be a priority and plan to spend an additional £155 million in capital funding on providing the homes needed. This is on top of the £80 million they have already reported spending on rehousing.

Planning Authorities

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local planning authorities follow the guidance in paragraph 62 of the National Planning Policy Framework which recommends that local design review arrangements are put in place to provide assessment and support to ensure high standards of design; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of local design review arrangements for implementing that recommendation.

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with local authorities on achieving the National Planning Policy Framework core planning principle that planning should always seek to secure high quality design and a good standard of amenity for all existing and future occupants of land and buildings; and whether he has any plans to strengthen the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure high quality design for the built environment.

Alok Sharma: The Government believes that good design is fundamental to creating attractive, safe and healthy places, where people genuinely want to live. Furthermore, high quality design is key to making development acceptable. The Housing White Paper published in February this year set out a number of measures to strengthen national planning policy on design.Included in these proposals are measures to strengthen the role of design expectations and pre-application discussions on design. Local and Neighbourhood plans are an essential way to give communities a stronger voice in the design of new housing, and to influence the design of what gets built in their area. As part of the White Paper we also set out our ambition to make clear that design should not be used as a valid reason to object to development where it accords with clear design expectations.Following the Housing White Paper consultation, we are now considering the responses to these proposals on design, with a view to publishing a revised National Planning Policy Framework for consultation in early 2018.As a further measure to support increased design capacity within local planning authorities, we announced the Planning Delivery Fund on 4 December 2017. This £25 million fund will help to support a step change in design quality of new development, as well as design advice and support to local planning authorities delivering growth.

Private Rented Housing: Homelessness

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing projects on Help to Rent and on a national rent deposit guarantee proposed by Crisis in its report, Crisis Help to Rent programmes.

Alok Sharma: My Department welcome's the work carried out by Crisis. We have committed £20 million funding to improve access to the private rented sector for those who are, or are at risk of, homelessness or rough sleeping, and are currently considering how best to use this.This comes on top of £28 million funding for 3 regional Housing First pilot schemes which will offer permanent homes to homeless people.

Housing: Energy

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support improved energy-efficiency in (a) newbuild homes, and (b) existing properties.

Alok Sharma: The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, sets out our ambitions for improving the energy performance of all buildings including new homes and existing properties.Energy performance requirements for new homes in building regulations were most recently strengthened in 2010 and 2014. As a result of these changes home builders are required to deliver highly efficient homes that typically reduce energy bills by £200 a year, compared to homes built before 2010.As part of this, and following the outcome of Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety, we will consult on improving energy requirements for new homes and existing properties where the evidence suggests that there are cost effective and affordable opportunities, and it is safe and practical to do.

Garden Communities: Colchester

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the use of financial assistance provided to Colchester Borough Council to develop proposals for garden settlements.

Alok Sharma: Funding to Colchester Borough Council to develop proposals for garden settlements is being paid out by the Homes and Communities Agency under Section 19 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, which enables both the monitoring of expenditure and claw-back of grant.

Private Rented Housing: Homelessness

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to supporting Help to Rent projects to enable more people to rent privately.

Alok Sharma: My Department has committed £20 million of funding to schemes that will support those who are, or are at the risk of homelessness or rough sleeping, to access or sustain private rented tenancies.We have also set aside £28 million to fund 3 regional Housing First pilot schemes, which will offer permanent homes to homeless people.

Females: Disadvantaged

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the implications for government departments of the findings of the report entitled Mapping the Maze: services for women experiencing multiple disadvantage in England and Wales, published by Agenda and Against Violence and Abuse in September 2017.

Mr Marcus Jones: We recognise victims of domestic violence have complex needs arising from long-term trauma or abuse, resulting in multiple disadvantages. We are fully committed to ensuring that no victim of domestic abuse is turned away from the support they need or are at risk of homelessness.Since 2014, we have provided £33.5 million in funding for refuges, safe accommodation and other services for victims of domestic abuse and their children. For example, we are funding 80 projects across the country to provide safe accommodation and support services to victims of domestic abuse through our 2016-2018 £20 million domestic abuse fund, of which over 30 projects are focusing on improving access to support for women experiencing multiple disadvantages.At Autmn Budget 2017, we also announced £28 million of funding to pilot the Housing First approach for the individuals with complex needs who are homeless, which could include victims of domestic abuse.In addition, we have established a cross-Government Complex Needs Group, to develop a shared approach to support for vulnerable victims of domestic abuse with complex needs.

Green Belt

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department's policy on supporting the Green Belt has changed since his Department published its National Planning Policy Framework in 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether local planning authorities can cite Green Belt restraints as a reason for not meeting housing targets under the Objectively Assessed Housing Need.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the  (a) regulations that apply to and (b) role in national planning of the Green Belt; and if he will make a statement?

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has plans to remove Green Belt status from land in order to meet its housing commitments.

Alok Sharma: Ministers recently reaffirmed the Government’s clear manifesto commitment to maintaining the strong protections for Green Belt, which are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework makes clear that a local authority may alter the shape of its Green Belt only in exceptional circumstances, using the Local Plan process. The Framework does not define ‘exceptional circumstances’. However, in the Housing White Paper, Fixing our broken housing market, we proposed that a local authority should be able to adjust a Green Belt boundary only when it demonstrates that it has examined all other reasonable options for meeting its identified development needs, including:- effective use of suitable brownfield land;- the potential offered by under-used land;- optimising the density of development; and- exploring whether other authorities can help to meet some of the identified development requirement.We have been analysing the consultation responses on this proposed clarification, and will announce our conclusions as soon as possible in 2018.Since records began in 1997, Green Belt has continued to cover around 13 per cent of England, and overall we consider that national policy has successfully restrained urban sprawl. Where necessary, a local authority in consultation with the community can propose a Green Belt boundary change, as part of its Local Plan process, but the revised Plan is subject to rigorous, formal examination by a planning inspector before it is adopted.The Framework is not law, but the law does require local authorities engaged in Plan-making to have regard to the Framework.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Notified Bodies

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure UK notified bodies continue to operate effectively after the UK leaves the EU.

Margot James: We recognise the valuable role that third party testing plays in giving business, consumers and the public confidence in products on the market and we have been engaging with manufacturers and testing bodies across the country to understand their concerns. Through the EU Withdrawal Bill we will convert the body of existing EU law into domestic law with the aim of providing maximum legal certainty and confidence for citizens, consumers and businesses. We want to agree a deep and special partnership with the EU that is based on the fundamental beliefs we share in free trade and high regulatory standards. The future relationship between the UK and the EU with respect to conformity assessment and other compliance activity is a matter for future negotiations.

Energy: Credit Rating

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made on the effect of a hard credit check for on the ability of consumers to switch energy suppliers.

Margot James: All energy suppliers are obligated to offer terms of supply to domestic customers, enabling customers to switch energy suppliers. Some suppliers carry out credit checks on new customers to confirm their identity and assess the risk of defaulting on their energy tariff. Suppliers should be clear to consumers when they intend to carry out a ‘hard’ credit check.In the non-domestic retail market, suppliers will often carry out credit checks before offering a supply contract to a business consumer.

Partnerships: Scotland

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential benefits of bringing Scottish Limited Partnerships within the scope of the Persons of Significant Control register.

Margot James: In June, a modified version of the Register of People with Significant Control (PSC) legislation was applied to eligible Scottish Partnerships, including limited partnerships registered in Scotland, under the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017. The Department will review the operation of the PSC register and report to Parliament in 2019.

Partnerships: Scotland

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require Scottish Limited Partnerships to hold a bank account registered in the United Kingdom.

Margot James: This Government has no current plans to require corporate entities, including Scottish Limited Partnerships, to hold a bank account registered in the United Kingdom.

Partnerships: Scotland

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to require partners of Scottish Limited Partnerships to provide a correspondence address.

Margot James: The Department undertook a call for evidence on Limited Partnerships into the working of the framework. The Government is actively considering options for reform and will announce next steps shortly.

Energy Companies Obligation

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to paragraph 4.51 of the Autumn Budget 2017, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Government’s plans for no new low-carbon electricity levies until 2025 on its plans to extend the Energy Company Obligation set out in the Clean Growth Strategy.

Richard Harrington: The Energy Company Obligation is not a low-carbon electricity levy and, therefore, is unaffected by paragraph 4.51 of the Budget.

Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2017 to Question 9068, when he plans to re-introduce the further Renewable Heat Incentive reforms outlined in the Government consultation response published in December 2016 and included in the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2017.

Claire Perry: It is my intention to implement the reforms announced in the 2016 Government Response, subject to their successful passage through Parliament. These reforms require the affirmative resolution procedure in Parliament.With regard to timing, the Department is required to submit regulations through a process of pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (JCSI). I aim to submit the remaining RHI reforms to the JCSI in December, and, subject to their clearance, would seek to lay the remaining RHI reforms early in the New Year, followed by parliamentary debates. These timings are indicative, and subject to parliamentary time.

Fracking: Ryedale

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what criteria his Department will use to determine a decision on consent for hydraulic fracturing at the Kirby Misperton site; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: The Department will determine Third Energy’s application for hydraulic fracturing at its Kirby Misperton site using the same criteria set out under Section 4A of the Petroleum Act 1998 (inserted by Section 50 of the Infrastructure Act 2015). The Department is carefully considering the evidence submitted and will respond appropriately in due course.

Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that mineworkers in deprived areas have access to a proportionate share of the profits made by the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme.

Richard Harrington: The allocation of bonuses from the Trustees’ share of surpluses in the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme is a matter for the Trustees.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Brexit

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the additional funding required by his Department over the next two years to prepare effectively for the UK leaving the EU.

Margot James: As announced at Autumn Budget 2017, HM Treasury (HMT) is making £3 billion of additional funding available over the next two years - £1.5 billion in both 18/19 and 19/20 – so that departments and the Devolved Administrations can continue to prepare effectively for Brexit. We are currently working with HMT and the Department for Exiting the European Union to establish what we need to prepare effectively, and what additional funding should be supplied – HM Treasury will aim to agree 2018/19 allocations in early 2018. Funding requirements for 19/20 will be affected by progress in negotiations with the EU and will therefore be decided at a later date. Additional funding received from the Reserve will be set out at Supplementary Estimates in the usual way.

Energy: Prices

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what technologies will be permitted to participate in auctions for the £557 million for additional contracts for difference under the Control for Low Carbon Levies announced in Autumn Budget 2017.

Richard Harrington: We are committed to the plans we set out in the Clean Growth Strategy and to continuing to meet our climate commitments. The next Contract for Difference auction round for less established technologies, including offshore wind, is planned for spring 2019. We will set out details of future rounds beyond that in due course. While no decisions have yet been made on future CfD allocation rounds for established technologies, it is right that support should be focused on those technologies where it is most needed. The cost reductions demonstrated in the recent Contract for Difference auction round mean that the £557 million could buy a large amount of low carbon electricity, sustaining growth in the sector.

Energy Companies Obligation

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his review of support for the Energy Company Obligation beyond 2022 as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy of October 2017 will be based on the introduction of new levies to support the scheme.

Claire Perry: In the Clean Growth Strategy the Government committed to extend support for home energy efficiency improvements until 2028 at least at the current level of Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding. We will review the best form of support beyond 2022, including how it should be funded. We have committed to extend ECO at £640m per annum until 2022 and will be consulting on the next phase of the scheme (2018 – 2022) early next year.

Consumers: Protection

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what date his Department plans to publish the Consumer and Markets Green Paper.

Margot James: The Government will issue a Consumer Green Paper in due course that will tackle areas where markets are not working for consumers and business.

Ombudsman Services

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to improve the effectiveness of ombudsman services in the consumer markets; and if he will make a statement.

Margot James: The Government recognises the importance of effective Alternative Dispute Resolution, including ombudsmen, in consumer markets. The Government will be publishing a Consumer Green Paper that will tackle areas where markets are not working for consumers and business.

Energy: International Cooperation

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to establish energy co-operation with other countries; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: The Department already has a number of established forms of energy co-operation with other countries. Our work spans research, innovation, policy, and technical collaboration in partnership with a number of priority countries.We continue to work closely with key partner countries, such as Norway and Qatar, which supply the UK with over half of its gas supply. We also engage widely with emerging powers as they grow to become key players in global energy markets. The links made through these relationships are reinforced with Ministerial level Energy Dialogues.Additionally, the UK will continue to be an active participant of multilateral fora that promote international co-operation on energy issues, such as the International Energy Agency; the International Renewable Energy Agency; the G7; and the G20.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Colombia: Mining

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,  what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Colombian Government and US Administration on ending child labour in the mining of coal, and other minerals in Columbia.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​There have been none on this specific issue.

Libya: Slavery

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Libyan Government regarding recent reports of African migrants being sold at slave auctions.

Alistair Burt: Holding answer received on 05 December 2017



Tackling forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking is a domestic and foreign policy priority for the British Government. We share others’ disgust and concern at the recent news footage reportedly showing slave markets in Libya. We have raised our concerns about these reports with the Libyan Government, and welcome their commitment to immediately investigate these reports and to ensure those involved are brought to justice. We also support the announcement in Abidjan this week of a joint EU-AU-UN Task Force to address this dire situation, and efforts to sanction people smugglers at the UN. Our new £75m migration programme will also specifically target migrants travelling from West Africa via the Sahel to Libya, and get humanitarian support to those in desperate need. We are clear that a sustainable improvement in the human rights situation in Libya can only be achieved under the stability of a united and representative government, and continue to work with our international partners to support UN efforts towards this goal.​​

India: Foreign Relations

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he last met his counterpart in India; and what issues were discussed at that meeting.

Mark Field: The UK enjoys a lasting, deep and broad partnership with India. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, spoke to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 22 November about the forthcoming Commonwealth Summit and consular issues. He congratulated India on its re-election to the International Court of Justice. My noble friend the Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, met amongst others, Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Swaraj and Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar during his visit to Delhi on 23-24 November and reinforced our valuable cooperation on cyber security. I spoke to Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar on 29 November to welcome the acquittal of the six British nationals imprisoned in Chennai and other current consular issues.

Africa: Slavery

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the call for additional funding by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to address modern slavery and human trafficking in (a) Libya and (b) other African states.

Alistair Burt: The Prime Minister has made tackling modern slavery a foreign policy priority, and in September this year launched a Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. The UK has committed to doubling UK aid spend in support of this objective to £150 million, and we welcome calls for further efforts to address modern slavery and human trafficking, including in Libya and other African countries. Modern slavery and human trafficking are global problems which require a global response.​

Libya: Human Rights

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of (a) modern slavery, (b) human trafficking and (c) associated violations of human rights and equalities in Libya.

Alistair Burt: The Prime Minister has made tackling modern slavery a foreign policy priority – it is a crime which generates around USD$150 billion a year in illegal profit, and a global problem which requires a global response. In September this year, the Prime Minister launched a Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. The UK has committed to doubling UK aid spend in support of this objective to £150 million. Libya is a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Human Rights Priority Country. We are following closely, and remain deeply concerned by, reports on the poor overall human rights situation in Libya, including abuses and violations against migrants in the form of modern slavery and human trafficking. At the 34th Human Rights Council in March we supported a resolution on Libya that calls on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor and report on human rights violations and abuses across Libya with a view to ensuring accountability. A sustainable improvement in the human rights situation in Libya can only be achieved under the stability of a united and representative government, and we continue to work with our international partners to support UN efforts towards this goal. ​

Africa: Slavery

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of racism on modern slavery and human trafficking in Libya and other North African and Mediterranean states.

Alistair Burt: The Prime Minister has made tackling modern slavery a foreign policy priority, and in September this year launched a Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. The UK has committed to doubling UK aid spend in support of this objective to £150 million. The reasons for this vile trade are complex, but, in the case of Libya, the current instability and proliferation of unaccountable armed groups are key drivers of the problem. We are clear that the human rights situation in Libya can only be improved under the stability of a united and representative government, and we continue to work with our international partners to support UN efforts towards this goal. The British Government remains firmly committed to the global fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.​

Africa: Slavery

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of (a) UN sanctions targeted at individuals or organisations who are identified as being responsible for modern slavery and human trafficking of African refugees and migrants in Libya and other African states, and (b) an EU-funded scheme enabling greater voluntary repatriation of migrants currently held in detention camps in Libya; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Prime Minister has made tackling modern slavery a foreign policy priority, and in September this year launched a Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, committing to doubling UK aid spend in support of this objective to £150 million. We are determined to work with our international partners to hold to account those acting with impunity in Libya, including through sanctions against those who are complicit in serious human rights abuses and violations. The Prime Minister has already committed to increasing efforts to tackle smuggling and trafficking in Libya through building the capacity of Libyan law enforcement agencies, and supporting efforts to sanction people smugglers at the UN. We also support the Declaration from the EU-Africa Summit on this issue. UK programming has enabled the assisted voluntary return of over 1,400 migrants from Libya this year, and we support further efforts in this area, including by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.​

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Health Services

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what guidance her Department provides to architects and contractors on the construction of health facilities which her Department funds or supports.

Alistair Burt: Where health facilities are constructed with DFID support, we expect implementing partners to work with architects and the Ministry of Health to ensure that basic quality standards set by local regulatory authorities are met. For example, in our Access to Health Care programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo, our implementing partners developed standard designs with the Ministry of Health and with the technical input of architects. This programme also systematically provides WASH infrastructure at health facilities, including toilets, water cisterns, and incinerators. DFID supports adherence to standards through technical advice and programme implementation, and through investments to strengthen health systems that will increase national and local capacity to improve and monitor the quality of health facilities.

Department for International Development: Brexit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union to the House of Lords European Union Committee on 31 October, how many civil servants her Department (a) has recruited and (b) expects to recruit to work on leaving the EU.

Rory Stewart: EU Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for International Development is doing detailed work with departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning.Staff within the Europe and Trade for Development teams lead on providing advice to Ministers on EU Exit and exit-related issues. Members of staff across the Department also provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required.Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.

Rohingya

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to support trauma counselling services for child Rohingya refugees?

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to support child protection services for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh?

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to ensure safety of unaccompanied Rohingya child refugees in Bangladesh?

Alistair Burt: The UK is working closely with its partners to provide protection services to Rohingya child refugees in Bangladesh. As part of wider efforts, UK aid is funding trauma counselling services include psychosocial and psychological support for 7,500 children. In addition to identifying unaccompanied and separated children, we are also supporting the Red Cross to provide family linking and family tracing services. Child protection support includes establishment of 30 child friendly spaces and supporting children to learn and adopt safe behaviours in settlements.

Rohingya

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to contribute to funding of the Humanitarian Support Plan for Rohingya refugees?

Alistair Burt: DFID is one of the biggest donors to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. DFID has worked for many years in Cox's Bazar and has stepped up efforts with an additional £59 million to support the latest influx of refugees. £54 million of this is being committed to respond to needs identified in the UN-led Humanitarian Response Plan.

Bangladesh: Rohingya

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to provide humanitarian support for disabled Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh?

Alistair Burt: Ensuring access to services and assistance for all vulnerable people, including people living with disabilities, is central to DFID’s approach. UK aid is supporting targeted assistance for disabled people, including outreach services providing cooked food, and cash or vouchers for essential purchases. UK assistance is supporting the provision of disabled-access emergency latrines to an estimated 70,000 people. Reducing distances to service points, increasing access into the camps, strengthening referral systems, and increasing access to information as the response continues to scale up will also support the disabled population.

Rohingya

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department is making in the provision of long-term facilities such as shelters for Rohingya refugees.

Alistair Burt: The UK is one of the largest donors to the crisis, providing support of £59m since the end of August. We are ensuring effective help is being provided for Rohingya refugees in the medium and longer term, as well caring for immediate needs. Of the £12m of new funding announced for the crisis at the end of last month, £8m will help ensure assistance is sustained after the months up to February 2018 covered by the current UN appeal, including helping improve security for women and girls. We have also provided shelter for over 130,000 people and support to make shelters more weather resistant for 450,000 people.

Bangladesh: Rohingya

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure access to education for child Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh?

Alistair Burt: The Education Cannot Wait initiative has committed US$3 million (£2.2 million) for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This will help cover more than 70 percent of the emergency educational needs of Rohingya refugee children until the end of 2017. DFID is developing an ambitious new education policy to ensure that the most marginalised children begin learning now. We are reviewing options for further funding as part of our longer term response to the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Bangladesh: Rohingya

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps are being taken to ensure counselling services for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are provided in their native language.

Alistair Burt: The UK is working closely with our partners to provide targeted protection services to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, including through a network of local organisations which help people to access services in a language they can easily understand, including in local dialects. We are also providing translators where needed. Examples of the help being provided includes psychosocial and psychological support for 7,500 children, and supporting the Red Cross to provide family-linking and family-tracing services.

Department for International Development

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the (a) number of officials to be employed by her Department and (b) her Department's payroll in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021 and (v) 2022 as a result of the UK leaving EU.

Rory Stewart: EU Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for International Development is doing detailed work with departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning. Staff within the Europe and Trade for Development teams lead on providing advice to Ministers on EU Exit and exit-related issues. Members of staff across the Department also provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required. Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.

Developing Countries: Pneumonia

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to prevent deaths from pneumonia in developing countries in children under five years old; and if she will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that provides developing countries with pneumococcol to vaccinate against pneumonia. 109 million children were vaccinated between 2010 and 2016, thanks to Gavi’s support, saving an estimated 762,000 lives.DFID supports Gavi’s Pneumococcol Advanced Market commitment which reduces costs, enabling 58 countries to introduce vaccinations. We also support countries to build stronger health systems that can respond to existing disease burdens and emerging health issues, including pneumonia.

Developing Countries: Children

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress is being made in ending preventable child deaths by 2030 as set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government has committed to saving 1.4 million children’s lives by immunising 76 million children against killer diseases by 2020. Through The Ross Fund we are leading a major new global research programme. This will accelerate the development of vaccines and drugs to eliminate some of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, as well as saving lives from malaria and TB.DFID supports countries to build stronger health systems, which will be able to respond to the existing disease burden and emerging health issues.

Department for Education

English Baccalaureate: Disadvantaged

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment has she made of the impact of the English Baccalaureate on improving the educational outcomes for children on Free School Meals.

Nick Gibb: The Department published the outcomes of the consultation on implementing the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) on 19 July (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-the-english-baccalaureate) alongside its EBacc equality analysis (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-equality-analysis).The EBacc policy aims to ensure that the vast majority of pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, take the EBacc subjects. Sutton Trust research1 found that 300 secondary schools had transformed their Key Stage 4 curriculum between 2010 and 2013 in response to Government policy, achieving a rise in the proportion of pupils entering the EBacc from 8% to 48%. It also found that pupil premium students benefitted most from the changes at these schools.The Department publishes entries into, and achievement of, the EBacc for pupils eligible for free school meals. A time series, with the latest available information (2015/16) can be be found in the ‘characteristics summary’ tab, of the ‘characteristics national tables: SFR03/2017’ at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2015-to-2016.Sutton Trust: Changing the Subject, Rebecca Allen and Dave Thompson, July 2016 https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Changing-the-subject_V4-1.pdf.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding per pupil did (a) free (b) academy (c) comprehensive, and (d) grammar schools receive in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: For the current financial year 2017 to 2018, the pre-16 funding for secondary pupils is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-block-funding-allocations-2017-to-2018.Schools selective status is available at:(https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Downloads using the ‘State-funded school ﬁelds CSV’ link).

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of pupils in receipt of free school meals attend (a) Free Schools, (b) academies, (c) comprehensives and (d) grammar schools.

Nick Gibb: The information is published in the underlying data: SFR28/2017 of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release.www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017.

English Baccalaureate

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of English Baccalaureate students went on to (a) A-levels (b) vocational study and (c) an apprenticeship in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

English Baccalaureate: Disadvantaged

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of English Baccalaureate students in receipt of free school meals went on to (a) A-levels, (b) vocational study, and (c) an apprenticeship in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

English Baccalaureate

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information has been issued to employers on the English Baccalaureate performance measure.

Nick Gibb: The Government published the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) consultation response on 19 July 2017. It set out our ambition for 75% of year 10 pupils in state-funded mainstream schools studying GCSEs in the EBacc combination of subjects by September 2022. This is considered an important stepping stone to reaching 90% of year 10 pupils studying GCSEs in the EBacc subjects by 2025. Changes to school performance measures, relating to the EBacc, were clearly outlined in the Government response to the EBacc consultation. This can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-the-english-baccalaureate. A list of groups representing employers who submitted responses to the consultation on implementing the EBacc, is published in the government response to the consultation.

English Baccalaureate

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information has been issued to Russell Group Universities on the English Baccalaureate performance measure.

Nick Gibb: We published the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) consultation response on 19 July 2017, which sets out the Government’s ambition that 75% of year 10 pupils in state-funded mainstream schools will start to study GCSEs in the EBacc combination of subjects by September 2022, as an important stepping stone to reaching 90% of year 10 pupils studying GCSEs in the EBacc subjects by 2025. Changes to school performance measures, relating to the EBacc, were clearly outlined in the Government response to the EBacc consultation, which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-the-english-baccalaureate.

English Baccalaureate

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the proportion of students that obtain the English Baccalaureate in the last seven years.

Nick Gibb: The number and proportion of pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate between 2009/10 and 2016/17 can be obtained from the Department’s statistical first releases at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4. The main tables for each year contain the required information (a time series is also available in the 2016/17 publication).

English Baccalaureate

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students who obtain the English Baccalaureate attend (a) state and (b) independent schools.

Nick Gibb: The number and proportion of pupils obtaining the English Baccalaureate in state-funded schools and independent schools can be obtained from the Department’s statistical first releases at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4. The main tables for each year contain the required information.

Dentistry

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the funding arrangements for new pre-registration dental hygiene and dental therapy students starting courses on or after 1 August 2018.

Joseph Johnson: The department are working with the Department of Health and relevant delivery partners to finalise the funding arrangements for new pre-registration dental hygiene and dental therapy students starting courses on or after 1 August 2018.We will confirm the funding arrangements in due course.

Class Sizes: Garston and Halewood

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of average class sizes in Garston and Halewood constituency in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: Average class size figures for state-funded schools in England are calculated and published annually in the statistical first releases available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.A national summary of average class sizes for key stages 1 and 2 and secondary is in the national tables document for each year, tables 6a and 6b respectively.Data is not summarised by parliamentary constituency, but data for each school providing average class sizes for key stages 1 and 2, where appropriate, and overall is available via opening the underlying tables document for each year then the file ‘…Schools_Classes_UD’. The figures can be filtered by parliamentary constituency, school phase and local authority.

Universities: Early Retirement

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the the amount each university has spent on payments for early retirement in each of the last 3 years.

Joseph Johnson: The information is not held centrally.

Pupils: Health

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 114597, what funds her Department allocated to promote that guidance through its social media channels.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 114597, if she will make it her Department's policy to hold data on whether schools have received guidance on their statutory duty towards their pupils' health.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Social media activity supporting promotion of guidance on supporting pupils at school with medical conditions was made under the routine activity of the Social Media team of the Communications Group at my department.Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on governing bodies of maintained schools, proprietors of academies and management committees of pupil referral units (PRUs) to make arrangements for supporting pupils at their school with medical conditions. It is not my department's current policy to hold data on whether schools have received guidance on their statutory duty. Data management in schools was a key issue emerging from our 2014 school workload challenge. In light of that, an independent review group was set up to look at workload associated with data management, chaired by Lauren Costello OBE (then managing director of the White Horse Federation), and including headteachers such as Edison David and Sarah Thompson, teachers, sector experts and representatives from Ofsted and trade unions. Their report highlighted the need to streamline practice and maintain a proportionate approach. Their report on data management sets out clear principles for government and the education sector related to reducing data burdens. These include commitments only to collect what is needed to support outcomes for children, and to consider the workload burden of any new data collections.

Special Educational Needs

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many education, health and care plans have been provided to children in (a) the UK, (b) Greater London and (c) the London Borough of Newham in 2017.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The number of children and young people with an education, health and care plan in 2017 for England, by region and by local authority, is available in table 3 on the Department’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2017.The data is collected for England only.

Students: Fees and Charges

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of changes to the RAB rate on the Department for Education’s budget in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20, (c) 2020-21, (d) 2021-22, and (e) 2022-23.

Joseph Johnson: The government has frozen tuition fees for academic year 2018/19 and for financial year 2018-19 has raised both the repayment threshold and the thresholds at which variable interest rates apply to borrowers in repayment. The repayment threshold will rise from £21,000 to £25,000 for the 2018-19 financial year (from 6 April 2018). Following the threshold change, interest will be charged at RPI for those earning below £25,000 (compared to £21,000 before) and at RPI+3% for those earning above £45,000 (compared to £41,000 before), with interest applied on sliding scale for those earning between those two thresholds. The estimated impairment of student loans (RAB charge) is included in the Department for Education (DfE’s) accounts as non-cash ring-fenced Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit. Following the recent change to the repayment threshold for post-2012 loans, these estimates will increase due to the change in the RAB charge for higher education loans from around 30% to between 40% and 45%. We do not expect this change to have any impact on the rest of DfE’s budget. Future budgets will be set as part of the annual Estimates process and confirmed in the published Estimates documents. The cost of the system is a conscious investment in young people. It is the policy subsidy required to make higher and further education widely available, achieving the government’s objectives of increasing the skills in the economy and ensuring access to university for all with the potential to benefit.

Nurseries: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of nursery providers in Ashfield constituency are rated outstanding or good by Ofsted.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Ofsted is the non-ministerial government department responsible for the regulation of early education and childcare providers. They publish a regular series of statistics relating to early years’ providers, which can be viewed from this link:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted/about/statistics.I have informed Ofsted of this question and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector will be writing to the hon. Member in response. A copy of that letter will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Children: Day Care

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the uptake of funded childcare for (a) two year olds and (b) three year olds among (i) disadvantaged and (ii) non-disadvantaged households in Ashfield constituency.

Mr Robert Goodwill: I am sorry, but the Department for Education does not hold information on take up of funded childcare for disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged households. However, the two-year-old free entitlement is specifically for disadvantaged children, and take up nationally is 71%, up 13 percentage points from 2015.Information on take up at constituency level is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.We do publish take-up data by local council. Take-up is calculated by looking at the Schools and Early Years Census data to get the number of children in a funded place. These data counts are then compared to eligible population estimates from Office for National Statistics (ONS) to calculate take up rates.As of January 2017, take up of the two-year-old offer in Nottinghamshire is 73%. This is an increase of 5 percentage points from 2016, and 16 percentage points since 2015. The current take-up level is also above the national average of 71%.As of January 2017, take-up of the universal three-year-old entitlement in Nottinghamshire as a whole is 100%, with no change since 2016. In 2015, take-up for three-year-olds was 93% in the most deprived decile of areas in the UK, using Department for Education and ONS data to calculate take up rates.[1][1] https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Entitlement-to-free-early-education-and-childcare.pdf

Primary Education: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of primary age children in Ashfield constituency attend a school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted.

Nick Gibb: The latest Ofsted inspection data shows the percentage of primary age children in Ashfield constituency that attend a school rated outstanding or good is 89%, as of 31 August 2017.

Student Loans Company

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to (a) increase the membership and (b) expand the diversity of the Board of the Student Loans Company.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: Compensation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation orders were issued for each (a) offence and (b) sentence type in each of the last five years; and what the total value of compensation orders was for each offence type.

Dr Phillip Lee: The number of compensation orders were issued for each (a) offence and (b) sentence type in each of the last five years; and what (c) the total value of compensation orders was for each offence type can be viewed in the attached table.



116142 FINAL TABLES
(Excel SpreadSheet, 38.5 KB)

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union to the House of Lords European Union Committee on 31 October, how many civil servants his Department (a) has recruited and (b) expects to recruit to work on leaving the EU.

Dominic Raab: The UK’s departure from the European Union impacts upon most areas of departmental business.Whilst staff within the Department’s Global Britain Directorate lead on providing advice to Ministers on EU Exit and exit-related issues, a number of staff across the department also provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required.Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.

Ministry of Justice: Brexit

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of officials to be employed by his Department and (b) his Department's payroll in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021 and (v) 2022 as a result of the UK leaving EU.

Dominic Raab: As with all government departments, members of staff across the MoJ provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required. Given the interactions between EU Exit work and the MoJ’s other priorities, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the number of officials to be employed for these financial years

Family Proceedings: Forensic Science

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is a requirement for firms supplying forensic services in support of family court cases to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 standards.

Dominic Raab: When forensic expert evidence is commissioned by a party or their legal adviser for the purposes of a family court case, there is no requirement currently for such tests to meet any specific scientific testing standard. The court will consider the veracity of that evidence as for any other expert evidence. In a family court case where the court directs that a DNA test be undertaken to establish paternity, that test must be carried out by a laboratory accredited by the Ministry of Justice for that specific purpose. Those laboratories must hold current ISO 17025 accreditation.

Domestic Violence: Convictions

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions there have been under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015, relating to controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship, broken down by the police forces by which each offender was charged.

Dominic Raab: In 2016, the latest year for which data is available, there were 59 convictions for the offence of controlling and coercive behaviour under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. The breakdown by police force area is shown at Annex A.These are cases where the coercive and controlling offence was the principal offence. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Therefore, where a defendant was also charged with (for example, serious sexual assault as may form part of the controlling and coercive behaviour) the conviction and proceeding would be recorded under the main or other offence. Annex AOffenders found guilty at all courts of offences under Section 76, Serious Crime Act, England and Wales by police force area, 2016 (1)(2)  Police forceTotal  Metropolitan Police4Cumbria1Merseyside1Greater Manchester7Cheshire2North Yorkshire2West Yorkshire2Humberside1Cleveland1West Midlands3Staffordshire3West Mercia1Derbyshire1Nottinghamshire2Cambridgeshire4Suffolk1Essex1Thames Valley2Hampshire1Surrey2Kent7Devon and Cornwall2Avon and Somerset1Gloucestershire2Dorset1North Wales1Gwent1South Wales2England and Wales59  (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

Eastwood Park Prison

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Welsh women are serving sentences in Eastwood Park prison.

Dr Phillip Lee: Closeness to home is one of a number of factors considered when choosing where to place prisoners. We also consider other factors such as length of sentence, security category and offending behaviour requirements. The following table shows how many women with a Welsh origin address are serving sentences in Eastwood Park prison. This is based on data as at 30 September 2017. Sentence StatusTotal(1) Sent50(2) Sent 12m -38(3) Sent 4 y+18(4) IPP≤5(5) Life≤5(6) Recall15(7) Unknown≤5Total125 If a request is made for information and the total figure amounts to five people or fewer, the MoJ must consider whether this could lead to the identification of individuals and whether disclosure of this information would be in breach of our statutory obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). We believe that the release of some of this information would risk identification of the individuals concerned. For this reason, MoJ has chosen not to provide an exact figure where the true number falls between one and five. However, it should not be assumed that the actual figure represented falls at any particular point within this scale; '≤5' is used as a replacement value from which it would be difficult to isolate or extract any individual data. It is important to stress that it is not possible to infer from an address in Wales that an individual considers themselves Welsh. HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) cannot identify English and Welsh prisoners. Someone with an address, for example in London, may well consider themselves to be Welsh, while someone with an address in Wales may not. UK nationals have a nationality of British. Therefore the data shown are not necessarily representative of those who identify as English or Welsh. The results are sorted by origin address (home address on reception into custody) and not nationality. English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish are not captured on our database as separate nationalities. Around 97% of prisoners have an origin location - i.e. addresses that are recorded in our central IT system. If no address is given, an offender’s committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. This information is included in the data provided in the tables above. Those with no recorded origin are typically foreign nationals or those recently received into custody. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders; these figures are excluded from the tables attached. The numerical information provided has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which as with any large scale recording system are subject to possible error with data entry and processing. Further guidance on the considerations for processing a request under FOIA, can be found by following the links: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/contents and http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/foi-step-by-step.htm Female prisons HMP/YOI Eastwood Park and HMP/YOI Styal, which both hold a number of Welsh offenders, employ Welsh speaking members of staff and provide written information in Welsh. On release offenders from Wales also have access to Through The Gate services including help with accommodation, employment and training to help them adjust to life outside prison and prevent reoffending.

Aircraft: Kingston upon Hull

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2017 to Question 115630, on aircraft: Kingston upon Hull, to set out the dates on which (a) the City of Culture Organisation, (b) Network Rail, (c) Hull Museums, (d) the Museums Registrar (East Riding) and (e) Sewerby Hall were consulted; and if he will place in the Library all minutes and correspondence related to those discussions.

Mr Sam Gyimah: HMP Hull have been in contact with the City of Culture organisation and several other organisations to secure a permanent location for the full-scale replica of Amy Johnson’s Gipsy Moth since receiving notification the model had to move by February 2018.A formal contact log has not been maintained as this is not a requirement.HMP Hull continue to work with any interested parties to agree the most appropriate location for the model.

Aircraft: Yorkshire and the Humber

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) insurance costs and (b) other costs of permanently housing the replica of Amy Johnson's Gipsy Moth in (a) Hull and (b) the Yorkshire Air Museum.

Mr Sam Gyimah: HMP Hull are working with Hull city of Culture organisation, St Stephen’s shopping centre and Yorkshire Air museum who have both indicated that they are able to provide a permanent location for the full-scale replica of Amy Johnson’s Gipsy Moth. Consideration will be given to the insurance and other costs before a decision is made.

Trimega

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) the Government and (b) a local authority commissioned services from Trimega (i) before 10 July 2013 and (ii) after 11 April 2014.

Dominic Raab: Expert forensic toxicology evidence in family court cases is commissioned directly by a party or their legal adviser from a laboratory of their choice. This can include a commission from a local authority for the purpose of family court cases. Such tests may have been commissioned before 10 July 2013. It is understood that Trimega went into liquidation in April 2014. The Department for Education has written to all local authorities in England asking them to review whether the commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega during the period January 2010 to April 2014.

Ministry of Defence

Ukraine: Military Aid

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will clarify the statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on 18 September 2017 that Canada and the UK will continue to partner in Ukraine to support Defence reform and institutional capacity building.

Gavin Williamson: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ukraine: Military Aid

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what consideration his Department has given to supplying the Government of Ukraine with non-lethal military equipment, which is no longer in operational use but good working order.

Gavin Williamson: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence: Assets

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the value of the assets for which his Department is responsible.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence is working closely with the Department for Exiting the European Union to understand the implications and opportunities arising from EU Exit, in so far as it affects Defence. This work is ongoing.

Identity Cards: South East

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people born on 3 May 2000 or earlier are in possession of a military identification card registered in (a) Woking, (b) Gosport, (c) Bromley or (d) Watford local authority who are aged (i) under 24, (ii) 25 to 49, (iii) 50 to 64 and (iv) 65 or older.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: There are no UK Armed Forces Regular personnel stationed in the Woking, Bromley or Watford Local Authorities. The table below provides the requested information for Gosport, as at 1 October 2017.  AgeNumber of personnelUnder 24470   25 to 491,240   50-6460   Footnotes   1The figures provided are for Regular Armed forces personnel, including both trained and untrained personnel. No personnel were aged 65 or older in Gosport as at 1 October 2017. 2Location refers to stationed location which gives the location of the assigned base of MOD personnel but not the location where they live. 3When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. 4Royal Navy / Royal Marines personnel on sea service are included against the local authority containing the home port of their ship.

Ministry of Defence: Staff and Armed Forces

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether civil servants and members of the armed forces working in MoD Main Building are permitted to bring domestic pets to work.

Gavin Williamson: Holding answer received on 04 December 2017



Civil Servants and members of the Armed Forces are not permitted to bring domestic pets into Ministry of Defence (MOD) Main Building. The only exceptions to this policy are dogs which work to assist individuals who have disabilities such as visual impairment or deafness, or an animal that is on duty and performing a task that is necessary for the security of the building or its occupants such as a Police sniffer dog. The MOD is compliant with the policy.

Army: Training

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost of running (a) Phase 1 training at AFC Harrogate including trainee salaries and associated costs and (b) the Combat Infantryman's Course (Phase 1 and 2 training) at ITC Catterick including trainee salaries and associated costs was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost was of each successfully trained recruit of (a) Phase 1 and 2 training at ITC Catterick, (b) Phase 1 training at ATC Pirbright, (c) Phase 1 training at ATR Bassingbourn and (d) Phase 1 training at AFC Harrogate including trainee salaries and associated costs in the last five years for which data is available.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the full outturn (a) building maintenance, (b) staffing, (c) training, (d) salaries for recruits and (e) other costs were at Catterick Infantry Training Centre in each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the anticipated out-turn cost of AFC Harrogate is for financial year 2017-18; and if he will make a statement.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the anticipated out-turn cost of ITC Catterick is for financial year 2017-18.

Mark Lancaster: It will take some time to collate and analyse the relevant information to respond. I will write once this process is complete and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Reserve Forces: Training

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average number of Manned Training Days claimed under the Operation Fortify Budget is for (a) individual soldiers, (b) Companies (or equivalent) and (c) Battalions (or equivalent) for the training year April 2016 to March 2017.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) additional duties contracts, (b) voluntary training other duties agreements and (c) full time reserve soldier contracts are afforded under the Operation Fortify budget?

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Addition Duties Contracts (ADC), (b) Voluntary Training Other Duties (VTOD) agreements and (c) Full Time Reserve Soldier (FTRS) Contracts are affordable under the Operation Fortify Budget.

Mark Lancaster: Operation FORTIFY was launched in December 2012 to deliver a sustainable Army Reserve. It focused the Army on the immediate work to grow the Volunteer Reserve; not only to deliver an increase in capability in line with increased numbers, but also to sustain a credible, usable and relevant Army Reserve as an enduring part of the whole force beyond 2019. Army Reserves are funded from within the overall Army Top Level Budget framework. As such, there is no additional budget directly attributed to Operation FORTIFY. Some Reserve initiatives, e.g. employer engagement and financial incentives for joining the Army Reserve, have also been funded through Future Reserves 20 and the Army Reserve Development Programme.

Ministry of Defence: Legatum Institute

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what meetings Ministers of his Department have had with representatives of the Legatum Institute in the last 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: There were no meetings between Ministry of Defence Ministers and representatives of the Legatum Institute in the last 12 months.

Navy: Reserve Forces

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Maritime Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are (a) Phase 1 Trained, (b) Phase 2 trained and (c) new entrants or recruits.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Maritime Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are eligible to (a) deploy on overseas exercises, (b) deploy on overseas operations and (c) be mobilised?

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Maritime Reserve as of 1 April 2017 qualified for their annual bounty.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of those Maritime Reservists who received their bounty in April 2017 qualified for (a) Year 1 (£440), (b) Year 2 (£972), (c) Year 3 (£1502), (d) Year 4 (£1502) and (e) Year 5 (£1742).

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average number of Man Training Days undertaken within the Maritime Reserve was by (a) an individual Reservist and (b) a Ships Company for the training year April 2016 to March 2017?

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average number of Man Training Days claimed by the Maritime Reserve was under the recruitment budget for (a) an individual Sailor and (b) a Ships company for the training year April 2016 to March 2017.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Additional Duties Contracts and (b) Full Time Reserve Sailor contracts are affordable under the Maritime Reserve's recruitment Budget.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Naval Reservists in the Maritime Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are (a) on Full time Reserve Sailor contracts, (b) Additional Duties Contracts and (c) Regular Naval Personnel on fixed term attachments.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel on full time reserve sailor contracts in the Maritime Reserve are (a) eligible to deploy on overseas exercises, (b) eligible to deploy on overseas Operations, (c) eligible to be mobilised and (d) on a reduced commitment.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total number of Maritime Reservists as of 1 October 2017 are ex-regulars brought into the service through Project Firefly.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many ex-regulars in the Maritime Reserve are (a) on a reduced commitment, (b) eligible to deploy on an overseas exercise, (c) eligible to deploy on an overseas operation and (d) eligible to be mobilised.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Maritime Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are (a) part of the Royal Naval Reserve and (b) part of the Royal Marines Reserve.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Royal Naval Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are eligible to (a) deploy on overseas exercises, (b) deploy on overseas operations and (c) be mobilised.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Royal Marine Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are eligible to (a) deploy on overseas exercises, (b) deploy on overseas operations and (c) be mobilised.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Royal Naval Reserve as of 1 April 2017 qualified for their annual bounty.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Naval Reservists who received their bounty in April 2017 qualified for (a) Year 1 (£440), (b) Year 2 (£972), (c) Year 3 (£1502), (d) Year 4 (£1502) and (e) Year 5 (£1742).

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Marine Reservists who received their bounty in April 2017 qualified for (a) Year 1 (£440), (b) Year 2 (£972), (c) Year 3 (£1502), (d) Year 4 (£1502) and (e) Year 5 (£1742).

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average number of Man Training Days undertaken by (a) an individual Reservist and (b) a Ships Company in the Royal Naval Reserves was for the training year April 2016 to March 2017.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average number of Man Training Days in the Royal Marine Reserve as of 1 April 2017  undertaken by (a) an individual Reservist and (b) a Ships Company was for the training year April 2016 to March 2017.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) additional duties contracts and (b) full time reserve sailor contracts are provided for by the current recruitment budget of the Royal Naval Reserve.

Mark Lancaster: It will take some time to collate and analyse the relevant information to respond. I will write to the hon. Member once this process is complete and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to put the prime contract for the Mechanised Infantry Vehicles out to tender.

Harriett Baldwin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 31 October 2017 to Question 109204 to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Julian Lewis).



109204 - WQnA extract on Armoured Fighting Vehicle
(Word Document, 13.44 KB)

Royal Marines Reserve

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Additional Duties Contracts and (b) Full-Time Reserve Sailor Contracts are affordable by the Royal Marine Reserve under its recruitment Budget.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Naval Reservists of the total strength of the Royal Naval Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are (a) on Full-Time Reserve Sailor contracts, (b) on Additional Duties Contracts and (c) Regular Naval Personnel on fixed term attachments.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Reservists of the total strength of the Royal Marine Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are (a) on Full-Time Reserve Contracts, (b) on Additional Duties Contracts and (c) Regular Marine Personnel on fixed term attachments.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people on Full-Time Reserve Sailor contracts in the Royal Naval Reserve are (a) eligible to deploy on overseas exercises, (b) eligible to deploy on overseas operations, (c) eligible to be mobilised and (d) on a reduced commitment.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people on Full time Reserve contracts in the Royal Marines Reserve are (a) eligible to deploy on overseas exercises, (b) eligible to deploy on overseas operations, (c) eligible to be mobilised and (d) on a reduced commitment.

Mark Lancaster: It will take some time to collate and analyse the relevant information to respond. I will write to the hon. Member once this process is complete and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Armed Forces: Credit Unions

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what further steps he plans to take to promote awareness and encourage the take-up of the Armed Forces Credit Union among military personnel and their families; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Credit Union (CU) facilities for members of the Armed Forces have been in place since 15 November 2015 and for veterans in receipt of an Armed Forces pension since March 2016. Following the introduction of the provision, the three Credit Unions, PlaneSaver CU, Police CU (trading as Serve & Protect) and London Mutual CU, met their first year target of 1,000 new members. At the end of the second year, the Credit Unions have reported that the number of Service personnel taking up the offer has grown to over 3,000. A number of new initiatives to advertise the availability of Credit Unions have been undertaken this year, including messages on payslips and having a Credit Union representative take an active role in the British Forces Broadcasting Service ‘Money Week’ initiative.

MOD Hebrides

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether redundancy terms are being honoured for staff who have recently been made redundant at the Hebrides Range.

Harriett Baldwin: No redundancies have yet been made at the Hebrides Range. QinetiQ operates the facility and some of its sub-contractors are currently considering their future resourcing requirements. This work is part of a £60 million programme of investment in the Hebrides Range that will sustain the facility until at least 2028.The terms of any redundancies will be a matter for QinetiQ and its sub-contractors.

MOD Hebrides

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where air traffic control is undertaken for trials at the Hebrides Range.

Harriett Baldwin: Air traffic control for trials undertaken at the Hebrides Range is currently carried out from the Range Control facility on South Uist.

MOD Hebrides

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many additional personnel visited the Hebrides Range in 2015 and 2017 for trials; and what estimate he has made of the number of additional personnel who will visit for trials in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.

Harriett Baldwin: Data is not held centrally and is not broken down to differentiate between those who attend for trials and visitors for other business purposes.

MOD Hebrides

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many guards were employed at Hebrides Range in (a) 2010, (b) 2014 and (c) 2017; and what estimate he has made of the number of guards who will be employed in 2020.

Harriett Baldwin: Fifteen guards were employed at Hebrides Range in 2010, 2014 and 2017 respectively. QinetiQ's sub-contractor is currently considering future guarding provision but no decisions have yet been made.

Department for Work and Pensions

Employment: Cancer

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people entering, returning and staying in the workforce after cancer.

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people with mental ill health entering, returning to and staying in the workforce?

Sarah Newton: The Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability paper published on 30 November set out the Government’s strategy to support the ambitious target of getting one million more disabled people in work over the next ten years. Within the Civil Service, we are leading the way as an employer. We are working with external partners through a cross-sector programme on disability inclusion to push the boundaries of best practice in topics such as job-carving. This is a form of workplace adjustment, which could involve redesigning an existing job around the needs of an individual employee with a specific disability, or creating a new role; for example, when an employee returns to work following a serious illness such as cancer or a stroke. Access to Work (AtW) provides practical and financial support to help with additional costs faced by individuals whose health or disability affects the way in which they do their job. This includes the effects of cancer, or health conditions or disabilities arising from cancer. The type of support is tailored to the needs of the individual and can include travel to work, support workers and specialist aides and equipment. The Government provides a range of support to employers to help them recruit and retain people with mental health conditions: for example, the Disability Confident scheme and Access to Work, which has a specific Mental Health Support Service. This service helps people by providing telephone and online advice and support. Last year, over 1,800 people with mental health conditions were approved provision from Access to Work – a record number, a 37% increase compared to the previous year.

Jobcentres: Glasgow

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Questions 116201, 116202, 116204 and 116205, what recent assessment his Department has made of the availability of street parking close to Shettleston Jobcentre.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Questions 116201, 116202, 116204 and 116205, whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment of the potential effect of the increase of vehicular activity on traffic and parking in the vicinity of Shettleston Jobcentre following the merger of that jobcentre with Bridgeton, Easterhouse and Parkhead Jobcentres.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Questions 116201, 116202, 116204 and 116205, whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment of the potential effect of the increase of vehicular activity on air quality in the vicinity of Shettleston Jobcentre following the merger of that jobcentre with Bridgeton, Easterhouse and Parkhead jobcentres.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Questions 116201, 116202, 116204 and 116205, what discussions his Department has had with Glasgow City Council on the potential effect on traffic volume and street parking in the vicinity of Shettleston Jobcentre following the merger of that jobcentre with Bridgeton, Easterhouse and Parkhead jobcentres.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Questions 116201, 116202, 116204 and 116205, what discussions his Department has had with the local police force on the potential effect on traffic volume and street parking in the vicinity of Shettleston Jobcentre following the merger of that jobcentre with Bridgeton, Easterhouse and Parkhead jobcentres.

Damian Hinds: Accessibility and transport for staff and claimants were considered as part of the planning of the mergers which make best use of space at Shettleston Jobcentre. Local managers are in regular contact with Glasgow City Council and police who are aware of these moves and have not identified any specific issues to date. We have agreed that the reconfigured service will be an agenda item at key stakeholder meetings over the coming months so that we are reviewing the situation and working together to ensure parking, transport and access issues are addressed as part of our partnership agenda. There is no legal requirement for the Department to conduct an impact assessment on potential effects of traffic, parking or air quality in the vicinity of Shettleston Jobcentre. The Shettleston office has been significantly under-utilised in recent years but has previously accommodated in excess of 120 staff and related customer service activity with no issues relating to parking or transport. It is worth reiterating that due to the complexity of the commercial process with negotiations on hundreds of leases and to protect our commercial position, we were unable to discuss information about specific offices until negotiations concluded and plans announced. However, there are no concerns from these stakeholders regarding traffic or parking at this time.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dairy Farming

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to end zero-grazing in dairy cows.

George Eustice: Good stockmanship is the key to high animal welfare and different methods of production have relative strengths and weaknesses. However I have held meetings with the Pasture Fed Livestock Association and we are giving consideration as to how we might support and encourage pasture-fed based systems in future agriculture policy.

Marine Protected Areas: British Overseas Territories

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Governments of UK Overseas Territories on creating fully enforced Marine Protected Areas in their waters.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the lead department for discussions with the UK Overseas Territories on these issues.

Food: Publicity

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote British food produce to domestic consumers.

George Eustice: UK food and drink is well known for its traceability, high standards and quality. There is a growing demand from UK consumers for food with a local provenance. We work with industry, including retailers, to promote the excellent produce available from across the UK.Through the Food is GREAT campaign, Government works with a range of industry partners to champion UK food and drink, boosting our reputation as a great food nation whilst promoting our exports overseas.It is important that customers can identify high quality food from the UK. We are currently considering how to build on existing labelling regulations and voluntary principles to increase the food information available and improve consumer transparency.

Land: Prices

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the UK leaving the EU on land prices in rural communities.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: No assessment has been undertaken on land prices.

Environment Protection

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to publish his Department's 25-year plan for the environment before Christmas 2017.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We are still developing the plan as we want it to be ambitious. We want to publish it as soon as possible but it will not be before Christmas 2017.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Trade Agreements

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) Ministers and (b) officials of the Department for International Trade on the potential effect of future trade deals on (i) food, (ii) environmental and (iii) animal welfare standards.

George Eustice: Ministers and officials meet their counterparts in the Department for International Trade on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues in trade policy. The Government is proud of our high standards and we will remain global leaders in environmental protection and animal welfare standards, maintaining our high quality produce for British consumers.

Sugar Beet: Disease Control

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his announcement of 9 November 2017 on exploring alternatives to neonicotinoids, what plans his Department has to encourage and support (a) better pest and disease forecasting, (b) disease resistant crop varieties, (c) agronomic methods such as companion cropping and maximising the control provided by natural predators and (d) other non-chemical techniques to help sugar beet farmers control aphids.

George Eustice: There is a range of available options to deal with the threat of pests to crops; these include the use of alternative insecticides, integrated pest management, and changing cropping practices and planting times. It is for individual farm businesses and their agronomists to take the decision on what is most appropriate for them. Defra supports research into integrated pest management and developing new and more pest resistant crop varieties, including funding for Crop Genetic Improvement Networks for major UK crops. These research networks focus on breeding to improve resource efficiency, sustainability, and resistance to pests and diseases, in order to reduce reliance on chemical inputs to agriculture. Defra has also announced a £300,000 investment over three years in a new project on sustainable crop production which will include research on integrated pest management.

Wildlife: Smuggling

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a priority for the UK government. This is why we are investing £26 million globally, and working with international partners, to tackle the systemic issues driving IWT. This includes funding initiatives directly and through Defra’s IWT Challenge Fund to reduce demand, strengthen enforcement, ensure effective legal frameworks and develop sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by IWT. The UK government is committed to taking action as part of global efforts to assure the future of elephants. That is why we are currently consulting on proposals to ban all UK sales of ivory which contribute directly or indirectly to the poaching of elephants. Following the success of the inaugural international conference on IWT in London in 2014, and subsequent successful conferences in Kasane in 2015 and Hanoi in 2016, the UK will bring global leaders back to London in October 2018 for a fourth high-level international meeting. This meeting will ensure that IWT stays at the top of the political agenda and that all participants deliver on the commitments they have made.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Brexit

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union to the House of Lords European Union Committee on 31 October, how many civil servants his Department (a) has recruited and (b) expects to recruit to work on leaving the EU.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of officials to be employed by his Department and (b) his Department's payroll in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021 and (v) 2022 as a result of the UK leaving EU.

George Eustice: Over 80% of Defra’s agenda is affected by the UK’s departure from the European Union. We continue to keep our resourcing plans under review, focusing both on recruitment and increasing the capability of new and existing staff.Since June 2016, Defra has recruited over 550 additional staff to support our preparations for leaving the EU. The majority of these new staff are employed in the central department where they are working on a range of projects identified to enable a successful withdrawal from the EU.

Food: Origin Marking

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what work his Department has undertaken in the last two months to protect protected geographical indications?

George Eustice: In the last two months my Department has provided support to a number of new applicants to the EU Geographical Indication schemes protecting spirits, wines and agricultural products, including 7 for potential new protected food names. We continue to engage with and support the organisations which deliver scheme protection on the ground. This has ensured the products (including 84 from the UK) that are currently registered under these schemes are receiving appropriate protection within the UK. During this period we have taken action to resolve the misuse of the protected food names of 3 UK and 6 EU products on sale in the UK. This has ensured consumers can have confidence that they are getting the product that they expect. We are planning to use the EU (Withdrawal) Bill to transfer into domestic law the EU schemes that currently protect our geographical indications. This will ensure that UK geographical indications remain protected in the UK after we leave the EU. Defra officials are working closely with officials from other government departments, the Devolved Administrations, and the Crown Dependencies on this.

Wildlife: Crime

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will publish annual reports on recorded wildlife crimes and related court proceedings and penalties.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Office for National Statistics publishes police-recorded crime statistics, including statistics on wildlife crimes. The Ministry of Justice publishes annual criminal justice statistics as part of Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly, which includes information on those proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. The offence group classifications provides a list of offences separately broken down, which would include some separately identifiable wildlife crime groups.

Fly-tipping

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many successful convictions there have been for fly tipping in the past 12 months; and how many vehicles used in fly tipping have been seized and crushed in the past five years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The fly-tipping statistics for England show there were 1,571 successful prosecutions for fly-tipping by local authorities in 2016/17. The table below shows how many vehicles involved in fly-tipping have been seized by local authorities in the past five years. Year2012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17Vehicles seized458571129197

Fishing Catches: British Overseas Territories

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, further to the Answer of 7 November 2017 to Question 110955, on fishing catches: British Overseas Territories, what fishing tonnage quota is assigned to EU member states other than the UK for each of the Overseas Territories; and what arrangements will be made after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: After we leave the EU, the UK will remain committed to protecting the interests of its Overseas Territories (UKOTs). The two most relevant Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) are the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), which cover fisheries in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The UKOTs have their own seats in these RFMOs. EU vessels do not have access to fish in the Exclusive Economic Zone of any Overseas Territory.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Environment Agency on suspending applications of associated emission levels (BAT-AELs) until standard emissions factors have been updated; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra officials have liaised closely with the Environment Agency (EA) over the EA’s application of Best Available Technique Associated Emission Levels for the setting of permit conditions under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. The EA uses standard emission factors. This approach has been agreed with industry as a pragmatic way forward, balancing the risks to the environment against the potentially significant costs to individual permit holders of otherwise having to monitor emissions to demonstrate their specific activity’s environmental impact. The EA is working with trade associations to gather evidence which will support a review of some of the emission factors to ensure that they reflect current working practices.

Home Office

HM Passport Office: Overtime

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much HM Passport Office spent on overtime in each month of 2017.

Brandon Lewis: Overtime costs for Her Majesty’s Passport Office are included within overall staffing costs published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts. Staffing costs for January to March 2017 are included in the published 2016/17 financial year report. Staffing costs for April to June 2017 will be included in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts for financial year 2017/18. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017

Emergency Services Network: North Wales

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on building the infrastructure for the Emergency Services Network coverage across the North Wales Police area.

Mr Nick Hurd: In delivering the Emergency Services Network (ESN), the mobile network operator EE is delivering around 502 new sites across Great Britain, and upgrading its entire existing network, including deploying 4G spectrum in rural areas. In the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain the Programme will deliver approximately 300 further sites, as part of the Extended Area Service (EAS) Programme.

Members: Correspondence

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter sent on 9 October 2017 from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley on police reserves.

Mr Nick Hurd: The letter has been received and will be responded to in due course.

Police and Crime Commissioners

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) HM Treasury officials on the possibility of providing multi-annual funding settlements for Police and Crime Commissioners; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: Following confirmation of the Spending Review settlement in November 2015, the Home Office set out our plans for the overall level of spending for the police to 2019/20.Funding allocations for all PCCs will be confirmed, as usual, on an annual basis through the police funding settlement process.

Fracking

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received from police forces on the costs of policing fracking sites.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Lancashire PCC has submitted an application for Special Grant funding for the costs of policing the anti-fracking protests in Lancashire; this is currently being reviewed. The North Yorkshire PCC has also approached Home Office officials for information on how to apply for Special Grant funding; an application has not yet been received.

Police: Finance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's Special Grant Guidance updated on 28 November 2017, whether the Metropolitan Police will be required to fund costs of up to one per cent of that force's budget before receiving her Department's support in relation to the terrorist attacks in 2017.

Mr Nick Hurd: Applications have yet to be received from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime for Special Grant funding in relation to the London terrorist attacks in 2017. When it has been received and assessed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services a decision will be made on whether to waive any form of contribution from the force.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of (a) the average length of time the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service review process takes and (b) the average waiting time from the initial Special Grant application from the relevant Police and Crime Commissioner through to a decision on funding being made by her Department.

Mr Nick Hurd: I refer the Hon member to the answer I gave on 30 November 2017, UIN 115976 .

Abortion: Clinics

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for her Department’s Review into harassment outside abortion facilities; what funding she has allocated to that review; and if she will make a statement.

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she make it her policy to include in the review into harassment and intimidation near abortion clinics (a) oral and (b) written evidence from groups involved in such protests; and if she will make a statement.

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals in (a) each police force area and (b) England and Wales have been (i) prosecuted and (ii) convicted in each year since 2007 for alleged harassment or intimidation outside abortion facilities.

Mr Nick Hurd: On 26 November, the Home Secretary [I] announced an in-depth assessment of protests outside abortion clinics, following reports that some women have been subjected to harassment and intimidating behaviour from protestors when visiting family planning clinics to seek information, advice and services from medical professionals. Undertaken by Home Office officials, the review will collect detailed evidence to inform recommendations on what more needs to be done to ensure that the police, healthcare providers and local authorities have the right powers to protect women making these tough decisions. The Home Office does not hold the information requested on how many individuals were prosecuted and convicted for alleged harassment or intimidation outside abortion facilities. Information on the number of prosecutions or convictions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and they have informed us that they do not hold the requested information.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to increase the availability the Automatic Numberplate Recognition Camera to Road Safety Partnerships to tackle the incidence of speeding.

Mr Nick Hurd: There are no current plans to increase the availability of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera technology to Road Safety Partnerships to tackle speeding. The development of ANPR systems is governed by the National ANPR Standards for policing (NASP). Part 2 of the NASP states each camera installation has to be in response to a pressing policing need and supported by a privacy impact assessment to ensure camera locations are justified. Only specifically configured and type-approved cameras may be used for speed enforcement in court. Cameras currently within the National ANPR Infrastructure (NAI) are not type-approved for speed enforcement and the purposes of the NAI do not currently include speed enforcement.

HM Treasury

Offshore Industry: Helicopters

Alex Cunningham: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to require the insurance industry to publish historic cost benefit analyses of under writing commercial helicopter flights in the offshore energy industry since 2009.

Stephen Barclay: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for monitoring and regulating the insurance industry. As a rule, insurers use their claims experience, other industry-wide statistics and detailed risk assessments to calculate the risks posed when underwriting an insurance contract. This enables them to price their insurance products accordingly. The Government does not generally intervene in these commercial decisions by insurers. If it becomes clear that intervention is necessary, the FCA is able to do so.

Credit

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to promote better access to affordable credit; and whether his Department has plans to create a national interest-free credit scheme available to people eligible for universal credit.

Mel Stride: The government is committed to facilitating sustainable financial services that give consumers greater choice in accessing credit. This includes support for the credit union sector, which provides an accessible alternative to high-cost credit. The government announced at Autumn Statement 2016 that under the Proceeds of Crime Act, from 2018 a greater proportion of funds recovered from illegal money lenders will be allocated to incentivize vulnerable people to join, save and borrow with a credit union instead of turning to loan sharks. In the Autumn Budget 2017, the government announced its intention to help the sector expand by increasing the number of potential members of credit unions from two million to three million. New Universal Credit claimants can apply for advance payments, and claimants who have been in receipt of Universal Credit for six months are eligible to apply for an interest-free budgeting advance to cover unexpected expenses.

Apprentices: Wales

Louise Haigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding has been raised by the Welsh police forces from the apprenticeship levy in the last 12 months.

Louise Haigh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to pass on the funding raised from Welsh police forces from the Apprenticeship Levy to the Welsh Government

Elizabeth Truss: The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced on a UK wide basis from 6 April 2017. Employers are charged at 0.5% of their pay bill over £3 million. Information on how much Apprenticeship Levy individual employers pay, such as Welsh Police forces, cannot be made publicly available because of tax payer confidentiality. Skills policy is devolved and the devolved administrations will receive a population share of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2016 forecast of revenue from the levy. In 2017-18, the Welsh Government will receive £128 million.

Children: Day Care

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2017 to Question 107743, on day care, how many and what proportion of parents who have successfully applied for tax-free childcare are self-employed.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the number of childcare providers who have successfully signed up for Tax-Free Childcare to date.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the impact assessment for Tax-Free Childcare did not refer to the expenditure on childcare provision by families as set out by the Department of Education.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria the Government plans to use to measure the success of Tax-Free Childcare.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what performance indicators and success criteria his Department plan to use to assess the performance of (a) National Savings and Investments and (b) ATOS in delivering Tax-Free Childcare.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the performance of (a) National Savings & lnvestments  and (b) Atos in the delivery of Tax-Free Childcare since it was launched in April 2017.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the IT system used by Atos to administer tax-free childcare.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the (a) system costs and (b) running costs of tax-free childcare have exceeded the budget allocated to the service by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to extend the deadline for closing childcare vouchers if the childcare service IT system is not fully operational by April 2018.

David Linden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2015 to Question 8179 on children: daycare, what assessment he has made of the link between the introduction of tax-free childcare and (a) the cost and (b) demand for childcare.

Elizabeth Truss: Around 10% of successful applicants for Tax-Free Childcare are self-employed or have a partner who is self-employed. As of 28 November approximately 53,000 childcare providers have successfully signed up to receive Tax-Free Childcare payments. The analysis set out in the Impact Assessment for Tax Free Childcare, published in March 2017, drew upon a range of data including data published by the Department for Education. The assessment can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652939/Tax-free_childcare_Impact_Assessment-March_2017.pdf. In response to the questions about the relationship with National Savings and Investments, and the performance of their delivery partner Atos, I refer the honourable member to my response to Parliamentary Question (105683) on 16 October. In response to the questions about the criteria for measuring the success of Tax-Free Childcare and the link between the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare and the cost and demand for childcare, I refer the honourable member to my response to Parliamentary Question (107892) on 24 October. The costs of delivering Tax-Free Childcare are currently within budget. HMRC will gradually open Tax-Free Childcare to parents of older children and all eligible parents will be able to apply by the end of March 2018. Childcare vouchers will then be closed to new entrants as planned.

Public Sector: Pensions

Bambos Charalambous: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for public service pension schemes of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Walker v. Innospec Limited?

Elizabeth Truss: The government is considering the implications of the Walker v. Innospec Limited judgement for public service schemes.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Christopher Chope: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to the letter to the Chief Secretary from the hon. Member for Christchurch dated 30 October 2017 on public sector exit payments.

Elizabeth Truss: I replied to the hon. Member on 28 November 2017. A copy of my reply has been resent.

Credit Unions

Gareth Thomas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to support access to credit unions; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: The government is committed to supporting access to credit unions, which provide vital services to financially underserved communities and contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector. The government has done this by: Announcing at Autumn Budget 2017, that where a credit union’s membership conditions are based on locality, a credit union will be able to increase the number of potential members it can have from 2 to 3 million.Contributing £600,000 to an initiative developed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Young Enterprise, to start savings clubs in primary schools and educate young children in the benefits of saving. Lifesavers works with local credit unions to help run savings clubs in schools.Contracting the Association of British Credit Unions Limited to deliver the Credit Union Expansion Project, which aims to modernise and grow credit unions in a sustainable way, enabling them to offer additional financial services to their members.Announcing at Autumn Statement 2016 that, from 2018, a scheme which incentivises credit union membership in communities at risk of being targeted by loan sharks, will be expanded. This uses funds recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act from convicted loan sharks.

Cabinet Office

Government Departments: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate the Government has made of savings accrued to the public purse as a result of the spending control process with government suppliers in each of the last five years.

Caroline Nokes: The Government's spending control process is one of a number of measures aimed at assuring and improving spending proposals. It is not possible to estimate the savings accrued as a result of the spending control process distinct from other factors that influence Government spending.

Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2017 to Question 108814, on senior civil servants recruitment, whether the information referred to in that Answer is available.

Caroline Nokes: I wrote to the hon. Member on 23rd November 2017 providing the information requested and placed a copy of the letter in the Library of the House. A copy of the letter is attached to this answer.



Letter to Jon Trickett MP
(PDF Document, 220.93 KB)

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral evidence given by Sir Mark Lyall Grant to the Defence Select Committee on 14 November 2017, HC 556, if he will list the events held ahead of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review with stakeholders in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.

Damian Green: In developing the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review (NSS and SDSR), officials met with representatives from leading think tanks, NGOs, academic institutions and industry as part of the consultation on the review. This included a series of academic engagement events held over the summer and autumn of 2015 in Edinburgh, Belfast, Aberystwyth, Durham, Exeter, Cambridge and London. There was also engagement with the Devolved Administrations.

Freedom of Information

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office of 22 November 2017, Official Report, c1033, if that Minister will meet with Cambridge Assessment and the hon. Member for Cambridge to discuss the updating of freedom of information arrangements aside from the review of the code of practice.

Chris Skidmore: We continue to keep the scope of the FOI Act under review, and I am grateful to you for bringing this situation to my attention. I would be very happy to meet with you and Cambridge Assessment on this matter.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in the UK have been fined for failing to complete a Household Enquiry Form for voter registration in each of the last 5 years.

Chris Skidmore: Figures for the total number of people that have had to pay the statutory £1000 fine for failing to complete and return a Household Enquiry Form (HEF) are not held by the Government. Decisions on the use of sanctions for HEFs are for Electoral Registration Officers.

Electoral Register: Gender Recognition

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that people who identify as transgender can register to vote.

Chris Skidmore: The Government is working towards creating a democracy that works for everyone, including transgender people. I have recently met with the Albert Kennedy Trust, a Manchester-based LGBT+ advocacy organisation to hear, first hand, what the barriers are to transgender people participating in our democracy. This is part of our wider democratic engagement agenda to tackle exclusion and encourage voter registration.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2017 to Question 10794 on the electoral register, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of establishing an online service to enable people to check if they are registered to vote; and if he will publish any cost-benefit analysis his Department has undertaken on that policy.

Chris Skidmore: Based on the findings from recent exploratory work, we estimate that the creation of such a service would cost between £10m and £40m, and then between £7m and £20m per year to keep running. The current average annual cost of processing duplicate applications is estimated to be between £400,000 and £1.2m. There are also no obvious solutions to technical barriers to implementing such a tool. In particular, it is not technically possible, currently, to have real time identity verification without a setup delay. Both factors point towards needing to find an alternative solution to duplicate applications to register to vote, most likely implemented at a local level. We will continue to work with the electoral community in addressing this issue.

High Speed Two: Electronic Government

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 10275, on electronic government, what services were bought by HS2 Ltd; and what the cost of each of those services was.

Caroline Nokes: According to records held by the Crown Commercial Service, HS2 Ltd have spent £167,593.55 to date with Fujitsu Services Ltd under the Technology Services Framework (RM1058).

Electronic Government

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 110275, on electronic government, to what Supplier Nil Return refers to in that Answer.

Caroline Nokes: The information provided in the earlier Question is derived from supplier returns provided to the Crown Commercial Service. “Supplier Nil Return” means the supplier has declared zero spend for that particular month.

Local Government: Elections

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2017 to Question 2214,  which local authorities will participate in the proof of identity pilot for the May 2018 local elections.

Chris Skidmore: The opportunity to pilot voter ID in May 2018 was offered to all local authorities in Great Britain and we are pleased that Woking, Gosport, Bromley, Swindon and Watford have committed to do so. In addition, Tower Hamlets will be piloting measures to improve the integrity of the postal and proxy vote processes respectively.

Electoral Register: Cheshire

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the factors affecting electoral registration and voter engagement in the Cheshire East Unitary Authority.

Chris Skidmore: We have not made a specific assessment of factors affecting registration levels in Cheshire East. More generally, we are committed to working with EROs and others to build on the successful introduction of online registration to ensure that everyone eligible to take part in our democracy can do so. Before Christmas, we will publish our democratic engagement plan, setting out evidence on levels of electoral registration across the country and our intended steps for maximising registration.

Electronic Government

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Government departments, agencies and arms’ length bodies do not use the gov.uk website.

Caroline Nokes: All government departments, agencies and arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) use GOV.UK. Parts of their portfolio may have an exemption, but they all have a presence on GOV.UK.

National Security

Johnny Mercer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the National Security Capability Review will be completed.

Damian Green: The review is currently ongoing and is being conducted in support of ongoing implementation of the 2015 National Security Strategy (NSS) and Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), Ministers will consider the conclusions of the review of National Security capabilities in due course.

Electoral Register

Chris Green: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of eligible people not on the electoral register in (a) England and (b) Bolton West constituency since 2010?

Chris Skidmore: Information regarding the total number of unregistered people of voting age is not held by the Government. Only totals for the number of registered electors are held, and these can be accessed through the Office For National Statistics website. It should be noted, however, that registration levels have increased at every General Election since 2005, and the register used for the 2017 General Election was the largest in our history, standing at 46.9 million entries. This is undoubtedly due, in large part, to the introduction of the Government’s Register to Vote website, which has delivered great benefits to electors, making registering to vote simpler and more accessible than ever before. It is the Government’s intention to build on this success by publishing a Democratic Engagement Plan in December, which will have the ambition of making the General Election in 2022 the most inclusive to date.

Department for International Trade

Exports: Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses in Essex that export overseas, which countries those business export to and the value of those exports.

Mark Garnier: Trade statistics at the county level are not available. Data on a) the number of goods exporters, b) the value of goods exports they generate and c) the destination of these goods exports by NUTS1 UK region, including the East of England (which Essex is part of), are available from HM Customs and Revenue (HMRC)’s website: Number of goods exporters and value of goods exports (UK Regional Trade Statistics Release): https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/RTS/Pages/default.aspx Value of goods exports and destination of goods exports by UK region (RTS Data): https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/BuildYourOwnTables/Pages/Home.aspx Data on the value of exports of services by GB NUTS1 region, including the East of England, (covering all services sectors) are available from the ONS at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/estimatingthevalueofserviceexportsabroadfromdifferentpartsoftheuk/2011to2015 Data on the destination of exports of services by GB NUTS1 region, including the East of England, (covering all services except travel, transport and financial services) are available from the ONS at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/estimatingthevalueofserviceexportsabroadfromdifferentpartsoftheuk/2015 Data on the number of services exporters by GB NUTS1 regions, including the East of England (covering all services sectors) are available from the ONS at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/datasets/annualbusinesssurveyimportersandexportersregionalbreakdown   Notes:The HMRC trade in goods data at the links above are comparable with each other. However, they are not comparable with the ONS data on trade in services due to differences in coverage and methodology between the sources. In addition, the ONS trade in services are not comparable with each other due to differences in coverage and methodology. 



Regional Export Figures
(Excel SpreadSheet, 101.93 KB)

Small Businesses: Loans

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 115425 on small businesses, what the (a) rate of default was on loans provided by UK export finance during the period to which that answer refers and (b) cost to the UK Exchequer of such defaults.

Mark Garnier: Department for International Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband: Scotland

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many premises in Scotland had superfast and fibre broadband service made available to them as a result of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband scheme.

Matt Hancock: The broadband project, supported by UK taxpayer funding and delivered by Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, had provided Superfast broadband coverage to approximately 520,000 premises by the end of September 2017.Over 7% of Scottish premises still have no access to Superfast broadband. The Scottish Government has been funded a further £20 Million in 2014 to connect more Scottish households, but has failed even to open procurement, and is not expecting to have contracts agreed until December 2018. This will be over three years behind Wales, Northern Ireland and most regions of England. The Government will implement the Local Full Fibre Networks programme directly with Local Bodies to ensure more efficient delivery.

Broadband: Scotland

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the number of proportion of premises which have access to fibre and superfast broadband as a result of the implementation of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

Matt Hancock: The broadband project, supported by UK taxpayer funding and delivered by Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, had provided superfast broadband coverage to approximately 520,000 premises by the end of September 2017. The Scottish Government has been funded a further £20 Milllion in 2014 to connect more Scottish households, but has failed even to open procurement. Over 7% of Scottish premises still have no access to Superfast broadband.

Social Media: Bullying

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to protect adults from cyber-bullying on social media.

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to protect children from cyber-bullying on social media.

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the Government’s policy is on the responsibilities of social media companies relating to cyber-bullying; and if she will make a statement.

Matt Hancock: As part of our work on the Digital Charter announced in the Queen's speech, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport published an Internet Safety Strategy on 11 October which focuses on keeping all users safe online. The Strategy covers the responsibilities of companies to their users, the use of technical solutions to prevent online harms and Government's role in supporting users. The Strategy includes proposals to tackle cyberbullying.

Social Media: Bullying

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had meetings with social media companies to discuss their responsibilities relating to cyber-bullying in the last 12 months.

Matt Hancock: Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media companies on a range of issues including cyber bullying. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.

Betting: Companies

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with which companies in the betting industry (a) she and (b) Ministers from her Department have met in the last three months, and what the purpose of each meeting was.

Tracey Crouch: Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with the Betting industry on a range of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on gov.uk.

Arts: Liverpool

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what grants her Department has allocated to arts projects in Liverpool Walton constituency in each of the last three years.

John Glen: Through Arts Council England, Government has invested over £3.5m into the Liverpool Walton constituency over the past 3 years. The table below outlines this funding in detail.   2015/20162016/20172017/2018Grant in Aid£ 1,008,871£ 973,935£ 983,307Lottery£ 227,162£ 167,940£ 139,760Total£ 1,236,033£ 1,141,875£ 1,123,067

Department of Health

Home Care Services

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will earmark funding to support the recruitment and retention of carers who provide personal homecare visits.

Jackie Doyle-Price: In 2017/18 the Department has provided Skills for Care with funding of £22.3 million to deliver the Department’s adult social care workforce priorities including the recruitment and retention of domicilliary care workers.

Nursing Associates: Training

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of training time for the new nursing associate role is allocated to each specialism.

Mr Philip Dunne: There are currently 2,000 Nursing Associates in training within 35 Health Education England Pilots, due to complete and become qualified in 2019. Nursing Associates spend 675 hours on placement at locations external to their employed place of work, where they gain a wide range of experience caring for people at all stages of life, across nursing fields and in other care settings, including in hospital, in the community and in a person’s home. Nursing Associates are an England only role. National Health Service staffing in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is a matter for each of the devolved administrations.

Tobacco

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received on the implementation of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: Since the full implementation of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations in May 2017, the Department has received a number of representations on different aspects of the legislation, including on the use of images on packaging; the regulation of e-cigarettes; and the regulation of chewing tobacco.

Tobacco

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on a) levels of non-compliance with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations and b) the number of successful prosecutions for non-compliance in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what training is provided by his Department to local authority trading standards officers on the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: The Chartered Trading Standards Institute, commissioned by the Department, undertakes an annual survey to assess tobacco control activities carried out by councils across England, including relating to compliance with the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. Further detail about the levels of non-compliance and associated prosecutions can be found in the 2016/17 Tobacco Control Survey, published on the Trading Standards website. Throughout 2015/16, the Department, supported by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, has delivered a comprehensive training package across nine English regions. This consisted of both face to face learning events as well as e-learning opportunities to support the implementation of the Tobacco Products Directive and the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015.

Hemel Hempstead Hospital

Sir Mike  Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the proceeds from the sale of the existing Hemel Hempstead hospital site will be used to provide new hospital facilities in Hemel Hempstead.

Mr Philip Dunne: NHS England advises that Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has no current plans to sell the Hemel Hempstead hospital site, as it intends to use the existing site for new service provision as a local hospital/community hub under the Your Care, Your Future programme. There is a possibility that some land might become surplus, as there is potential to improve design efficiency, and therefore reduce the space requirement. Should that be the case, the land would be sold and the proceeds reinvested in local health services. Herts Valley CCG cannot confirm at this stage whether there will be surplus land and if so, what the proportion would be. Under current arrangements, where land or buildings are locally owned by a National Health Service trust or NHS foundation trust, the full capital receipt from its disposal is usually retained by that organisation to reinvest in the NHS in that area. This is set out in guidance to the NHS issued by NHS Improvement.

Health Services: Hertfordshire

Sir Mike  Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what NHS services he expects to be available to residents of Hemel Hempstead from the new facilities to be provided by (a) West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, (b) Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust,  and (c) Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.

Mr Philip Dunne: As part of the Your Care, Your Future programme, the Board of West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust approved the Trust’s Strategic Outline Case identifying options for investment in the Trust’s estate in February 2017. The Board approved two options to be worked up in more detail; both would continue to use Watford General Hospital as the location of emergency and specialist care, with St Albans City Hospital further developed as a planned care centre. Your Care, Your Future includes plans to develop new pathways for care in the community, for example through local general practitioner surgeries and specialised hubs. The plans include the redevelopment of the Hemel Hempstead Hospital as a local hospital/community hub. Herts Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is currently developing the clinical model of service provision, but the CCG sees the new facility as providing a wide range of health and social care services, including: voluntary and community services, community physical and mental health services and planned care, and outpatient and diagnostic provision.

Pharmacy Integration Fund

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the Pharmacy Integration Fund for 2017-18 has been spent to date; and if he will provide a breakdown of that expenditure.

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the funding allocated to the Pharmacy Integration Fund for 2017-18 remains unspent.

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the amount of funding allocated to the Pharmacy Integration Fund for 2018-19.

Steve Brine: The actual and estimated expenditure on the Pharmacy Integration fund for 2017/18 is set out below: 2017/18Budget itemActual spendEstimated additional spendRegional and national staff£157,673£305,531Contractors£12,100 Public and Patient volunteer payments£1,444£4,404Communications£808,600£20,000NHS Urgent Medicines Supply Advanced Service (NUMSAS)£256,581.50£933,819NUMSAS infrastructure £700,000GP Pharmacist Programme£5,000,000Miscellaneous expenses£40,537£46,820Subtotal (Actual Spend)£6,276,936Budget allocated to additional areasIntegrated Urgent Care Pharmacist Programme £517,860Education and Development Programme £5,100,000NHS Digital £585,000Digital Minor Illness Referral – Community Pharmacy Referral Scheme £250,000Evaluation £460,000Pharmacy system leadership development work £3,000,000Subtotal (estimated additional spend) £11,923,434Total Estimated Spend 2017/18£18,200,370  As a result of the 2017 general election pre-election period and subsequent appointment of new Government ministers put a temporary stop to procurements in April-July 2017. National Health Service priorities were assessed and a decision was made to postpone the mobilisation of the Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes Programme until 2018/19 given wider funding pressures. The provisional budget for 2018/19 is under review given outcome of the Budget.

Congenital Abnormalities

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake an annual review of all congenital anomalies with the independent scientific advice of the Commission on Human Medicines, as recommended in the Report of the Commission on Human Medicines Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests, published on 15 November 2017.

Steve Brine: The Commission on Human Medicines Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests made a number of forward-looking recommendations to further strengthen the systems in place for detecting, evaluating, and communicating risk with exposure to medicines in pregnancy. All suspected adverse drug reactions in pregnancy, including congenital anomalies, that are reported by healthcare professionals and women in the United Kingdom to the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency will be independently reviewed by experts. The findings and conclusions of the reviews will be published in the annual reports of the Commission on Human Medicines.

Transplant Surgery: Stem Cells

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the provision of care and support available to patients following a stem cell transplant.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England is responsible for commissioning and funding the transplant related care which takes place 30 days before transplant and continues until 100 days post-transplant. As outlined in the Manual, after 100 days post-transplant, commissioning responsibility for the routine follow-up of patients switches from NHS England to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The Manual for Prescribed Specialised Services describes which elements of specialised services are commissioned by NHS England and which are commissioned by CCGs is available at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/prescribed-specialised-services-manual-2.pdfIn the event that transplant patients experience serious complications post-transplant, elements of their care would likely continue to be planned, organised and funded by NHS England specialised commissioning. For example, if a patient requires Extracorporeal Photophersis which is a treatment for acute and chronic graft versus host disease following transplantation, NHS England commissions this care post-transplant. NHS England’s work in supporting the roll out of the Recovery Package for cancer patients, including those who received blood and marrow transplants, helps ensure patients have more personal care and support from the point they are diagnosed and once treatment ends. For patients this means working with their care team to develop a comprehensive plan outlining not only their physical needs, but also additional support, such as help at home or financial advice. By 2020 NHS England wants all cancer patients to have access to the Recovery Package.

Mental Health Services

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made by Health Education England on developing standards for prescribing that include the risks and benefits of medication, personal preferences, and preventative health support for people with mental health diagnoses.

Mr Philip Dunne: Health Education England does not develop standards for prescribing. Where a profession has prescribing responsibilities, the standards will be set by the regulator of that profession.

Mental Health Services: Out of Area Treatment

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce Out of Area Placements in Mental Health Services.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is committed to ensuring that patients with mental health conditions can receive treatment as close as possible to where they live. Inappropriate out of area placements are unacceptable and the Government has set a target to eliminate these in, non-specialist, acute mental health care by 2020/21. To support the delivery of this ambition, in October 2016 the Government put in place the first data collection to secure much-needed national transparency on the number of patients that are sent out of their local area for acute inpatient treatment. The Mental Health Services Dataset has also been updated to enable the Department and NHS England to understand the number and characteristics of people being treated away from home. NHS England is using this new data to support local health systems to develop and deliver trajectories to eliminate inappropriate out of area placements. More than £400 million has been made available for investment in mental health crisis resolution home treatment teams over the next four years, enabling them to provide 24/7 crisis response and intensive home treatment as a genuine alternative to admission where appropriate. Shared learning and best-practice advice on reducing out of area placements through improved system capacity management will be included in acute care commissioning guidance.

Mental Health Services

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made on implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health recommendation that NHS England should 9a) define a quantified national reduction in premature mortality among people with severe mental illness, and (b) devise an operational plan for this from 2017/18.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England published the document ‘Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health’ (FYFV) in July 2016 setting out a high level operational plan to achieve a reduction in premature mortality of people living with severe mental illness (SMI). 280,000 more people will have their physical health needs met by increasing early detection and expanding access to evidence-based physical care assessment and intervention each year. The implementation plan sets out in detail where and when funding to deliver the FYFV will be available and can be viewed via the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/fyfv-mh.pdf To date, significant progress has been made across the following areas: - To support delivery and commissioning in primary care, NHS England is finalising the national clinical commissioning group (CCG) guidance for improving physical health care for people living with SMI. The guidance aims to improve access and quality of both physical health assessments and interventions delivered within primary care and will showcase and share innovative delivery models such as enhanced primary care services; - Work is underway to establish CCG - and Sustainability and Transformation Plan – level trajectories for the numbers of physical health checks and interventions to be achieved cumulatively across primary and secondary care settings; - Significant expansion and extension of the Patients with Severe Mental Illness Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) scheme has been secured and for 2017-19 (a two year scheme) it will be implemented through the standard contract and therefore no longer voluntary. For the first time the CQUIN will make outcome based payments, focused on services that deliver positive change around smoking cessation and weight loss for people with SMI. The updated CQUIN also aims to improve collaborative working with primary care clinicians to ensure an integrated approach to improving physical health care; and - Ensuring data flow to be able to measure physical health checks and interventions in primary care: NHS England is planning to rely on a CCG-level collection for informing the primary care element of such trajectories, given the spectrum of commissioning arrangements that may be in place to support the delivery of this ambition across various localities. Work is also underway within arm’s length body partners to progress this agenda.

Dental Services: Older People

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people aged (a) 65 and over, (b) 75 and over and (c) 85 and over who visited an NHS dentist in the 24 months to 30 June 2017.

Steve Brine: Information is not held in the format requested. Information is held on the number of adults who have seen a dentist in the last 24 months but this is not broken down further by age.

Dental Services: Older People

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that dependent older people receiving care in your home services or living in care homes can access NHS dental services.

Steve Brine: NHS England has a legal duty to commission primary care dental services to meet local needs. This includes, if appropriate, domiciliary services. Domiciliary dental services provide primary care dentistry for those who are unable to attend a dental practice or other dental service. Instead the dentistry is provided in the environment in which the patient is resident.

Dental Health: Surveys

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the next Adult Dental Health Survey.

Steve Brine: No decisions have been taken yet on the timing of the next Adult Dental Health Survey.

Dementia: Training

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that dental practitioners receive dementia awareness training.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department’s Mandate to Health Education England published in April 2013 called for the development in partnership with the relevant stakeholders, of a national roll-out plan for foundation level dementia training for all National Health Service staff. Health Education England is responsible for developing educational frameworks based on care pathways to directly enhance patient care by providing guidance, education and training to dentists, dental care practitioners and dental nurses. The regional Postgraduate Dental Deans have overseen local training in dementia awareness for dental staff, across England, working with local groups and national organisations, such as the Alzheimer’s Society.

GP at Hand

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 114582 on General Practitioners: Finance, if he plans to review the performance of the GP at Hand service at regular intervals.

Steve Brine: As with all practices that hold a General Medical Services contract with NHS England, GP at Hand will be subject to contract monitoring to ensure compliance. In addition, GP at Hand will be subject to additional monitoring due to the model of care they are providing particularly during this early implementation phase to monitor compliance and track the implementation and impacts of the model.

GP at Hand

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to  Question 114582 on General Practitioners: finance, what criteria his Department will use to monitor the GP at Hand service.

Steve Brine: Further to the contract monitoring that all General Medical Services contract holders are subject to, GP at Hand will also be independently evaluated, which will include an evaluation of any financial impacts.

General Practitioners: Essex

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are registered with each General Practitioner in each Clinical Commissioning Group area in Essex.

Steve Brine: Since 2004 general practitioners (GPs) no longer hold an individual list of registered patients as patients now register with a practice. Data for the number of general practitioners (headcount) working in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) in Essex, and the number of patients registered at each CCG is set out below. General practitioner headcount figures include GP Providers, Salaried GPs, Registrars, Retainers and Locums. CCG NameAll GP Headcount  at 30 September 2017Number of registered patients at 1 October 2017Average number of patients per GPNHS Mid Essex CCG219390,0611,781NHS North East Essex CCG181348,6001,926NHS Thurrock CCG84175,1122,085NHS West Essex CCG201311,0631, 548NHS Basildon and Brentwood CCG146277,6071, 901NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG101184,8341, 830NHS Southend CCG143188,0091, 315

Health Services

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding he has allocated from the public purse to support the development of new (a) primary care centres and (b) healthcare hubs.

Mr Philip Dunne: Funding for new primary care centres and healthcare hubs is primarily provided from two sources: the Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (ETTF) which is administered by NHS England; and additional money for schemes that has been announced from the capital Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) budget funding. The ETTF has committed to spend at least £700 million of capital and revenue between 2015/16 to 2019/20 to support investment in infrastructure in general practices, increasing capacity and flexibility of premises to be fit for the future and to implement technology solutions to enable new and improved ways of working. The programme includes new premises, but the split between categories is not centrally available. The following schemes have been announced to receive funding from the STP capital provided in the Spring Budget and Autumn Budget and relate to the development of primary care centres and healthcare hubs. The funding is contingent on completing the established business case approvals, and the amounts will be finalised at that time. Spring Budget - Cotgrave Surgery Integrated Care Hub scheme (Nottingham and Nottinghamshire STP) to provide a new integrated health component of multi-service centre benefitting 12,000 residents of new homes developed in the area. - North Clacton Primary Care Hub scheme (Suffolk and North East Essex STP) to create three general practitioner practices, Care Closer to home services and a Renal Dialysis Unit. - Bedford Hospital Primary Care Hub scheme (Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire and Luton STP) to improve GP access for local communities and support urgent care at the hospital’s accident and emergency department. - Strelley Health Centre Redevelopment (Nottinghamshire STP) to accommodate future growth of existing services plus additional primary, community and social care services including a pharmacy, utilising the current site. Autumn Budget - Frimley Out of Hospital Integrated Care Hubs scheme (Frimley Health STP) to enable patients to be treated out of hospital. - Chiltern and Aylesbury Vale Primary Care Hub scheme (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West STP) to allow the expansion of community teams and care provision outside of traditional hospital settings in primary care hubs.

Health Services and Social Services

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the Government has made of the resilience of the UK’s health and social care infrastructure to the effects of climate change.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government has taken to improve the resilience of NHS and care services to the warming of the UK's climate, the future frequency of adverse weather events and other potential effects of climate change.

Steve Brine: The Government published the second Climate Change Risk Assessment in January 2017 and the report recognised that there was a continued increased risk to the United Kingdom’s health and social care infrastructure from extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. The main risks to health and social care infrastructure have been identified by the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, as overheating of buildings and the risk of flooding. A number of different policies and plans will affect how risks to health, well-being and high temperatures can be managed in future. To assist planners, Public Health England publishes the Heatwave Plan for England to manage risks to public health and flood risk has been added to the Strategic Health Asset Planning and Evaluation tool so that those responsible for resilience can understand the flood risk of their estate. The Department of Health is working with Public Health England, NHS England, he Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Sustainable Development Unit to assess and address overheating, flooding and other risks to health and social care services. The results of this work will be published in the second National Adaptation Programme in 2018.

NHS: Reorganisation

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of progress in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of NHS Trusts; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the NHS Sustainable Development Unit’s mission to embed and promote the environmental, social and financial elements of sustainable development is being followed through across the NHS in England.

Steve Brine: The Sustainable Development Strategy (2014-2020) for the health and social care sector provides a route map to embed the social economic and environmental sustainability across the National Health Service in England. This strategy was adopted with support from across the entire health and social care system. The Department, the Sustainable Development Unit and NHS England work together to ensure that the profile and importance of the principles of sustainable development are embedded in national government strategy, such as the recently published Clean Growth Strategy. This expectation is cascaded down through NHS England to providers and commissioners in the form of mandate and message, with impacts measured and reported annually. The NHS reports on their greenhouse gas emissions within their public annual reports. Between 2007 and 2015, the NHS reduced carbon emissions arising from energy, travel, procurement and commission healthcare services by 11%. Over the last 10 years the health system has reduced the annual carbon emissions from service delivery, supply chain and staff and patient travel by 3.6 million tonnes and saved almost £2 billion in energy costs.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ban vaginal mesh operations.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has considered all evidence available to them, both here in the United Kingdom and worldwide, and their view is that both the evidence and the greater proportion of the clinical community supports the use of these devices as part of an appropriate treatment pathway. The NHS England mesh oversight group’s final report, published in July 2017, recommended that surgical mesh should not be routinely offered as the first surgical intervention when treating prolapse which is in alignment with the recommendations of the Scottish Independent Review. The report also sets out a number of actions which improve the support available for women who have suffered with complications including being able to be referred to 18 trusts in England that have the specialist multidisciplinary teams and experience to assess complications and offer the highest quality support.

Health: Research

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risks of transferring intellectual property rights of publicly-funded health research to private companies; and what steps his Department is taking to manage those potential risks.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department funds research via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Research funded by the NIHR generates a wide range of intellectual property (IP) assets ranging from patents to clinical data. In a knowledge driven economy, effective management of IP is essential to help realise the expected benefits of publicly funded research. In line with other health research funders, IP is produced and managed by diverse third party research organisations including on occasion private companies. To manage any inherent risks, including those specific to the transfer of rights to private companies, the NIHR has effective commissioning, due diligence, monitoring, analysis and approval mechanisms to ensure that funding recipients are maximising the impact of NIHR-funded IP and that benefits accrue to taxpayers. Furthermore, the NIHR has established an IP Unit to oversee the effective operation and risk management of these activities, and the IP generated across the spectrum of NIHR funding.

Mental Health Services: Warwickshire

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has assessed the effect of the restructuring of mental health services in Warwickshire, by the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, on families’ travelling times to visit patients at mental health hospitals.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has made no formal assessment. The structure and organisation of the mental health services in Warwickshire is a matter for the local National Health Service.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients: Addictions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2017 to Question 114972 on compulsorily detained mental patients: addictions, in what format the information is collected.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) collects data on people in contact with secondary mental health services. Information on addiction services is included in the MHS503 Assigned Care Professional table. This table links directly to the MHS501 Hospital Spell table and provides data on people who are in a hospital already and where the assigned care professional treating the person has a treatment function code of addiction services. We do not hold data on the people in contact with addiction services who are not in hospital and as such we do not have a complete view of this cohort of people. Further details on MHSDS, including the tables and fields included within MHSDS can be found here:http://content.digital.nhs.uk/mhsds/specThis includes the Technical Output Specification and the data model.

Dental Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on how many dentists took on new patients in each year since 2010.

Steve Brine: This information is not held centrally.

Dental Services: Private Patients

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of how many dentists are only taking on private patients.

Steve Brine: This information is not collected and no estimate has been made. Information is not collected from dental practices on patients seen for exclusively private treatment.

Dental Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of how many people in England were unable to access a dentist in each year since 2010.

Steve Brine: Data is not held centrally and no estimate has been made.

Paramedical Staff

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the patient safety implications of using ambulance technicians instead of ambulance paramedics; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: No such assessment has been made. National Health Service ambulance trusts are responsible for assigning appropriate responses to 999 calls, including which clinical staff are deployed.

Action On Smoking and Health

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2017 to Question 110843, for what reasons the figure for funding from his Department to Action on Smoking and Health in the financial year 2016-17 is different by £30,000 to that given in the Answer of 5 September 2017 to Question 6854; how that discrepancy came about; and if he will fully investigate the funding and grant-making processes of his Department in respect of that organisation.

Steve Brine: In my answer of 5 September 2017 I stated that a grant of £160,000 was awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 in financial year 2016/17. In my answer of 6 November 2017 I referred to a table confirming that grant payments totalling £195,000 were made to ASH during the financial year in 2016/17. Both responses are accurate. The 6 November response which referred to £195,000 highlighted all payments made to ASH during the financial year 2016/17. This is different from the value of the grant for that year because payments are made once ASH has demonstrated successful delivery of grant objectives, after each quarter. The final payment for each year of the ASH grant is made in the subsequent financial year. The attached table is designed to clarify the apparent discrepancy.



PQ117026 attached table
(Word Document, 21.76 KB)

Action On Smoking and Health

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2017 to Question 110843, for what reasons the grant was awarded for supporting the Tobacco Control Plan in the period when no Tobacco Control Plan was in place.

Steve Brine: The Department has ongoing tobacco control responsibilities. The previous Tobacco Control Plan ran from March 2011 to March 2016. Although the Plan had expired, work to continue delivering on its goals was ongoing and funding was needed to support that work.

Hereditary Diseases: Medical Treatments

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of treatment provision for people diagnosed with Acid Sphingomyelinase Deficiency.

Steve Brine: Acid sphingomyelinase deficiency is a lysosomal storage disorder (LSD). NHS England and its predecessor organisation have commissioned a national service for patients with LSDs since April 2005. The service is commissioned from eight expert centres and NHS England monitors these expert centres against the agreed service specification:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e06-lyso-stor-dis-child.pdfThe active caseload of LSD patients treated in the service is just under 2,000. NHS England’s Highly Specialised Commissioning team conducts an annual clinical audit meeting with the multidisciplinary teams from all the providers and with representatives from relevant patient groups.

Hereditary Diseases: Medical Treatments

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of treatment provision for people diagnosed with Alström syndrome.

Steve Brine: NHS England and its predecessor have commissioned the Alström Syndrome Service (for all ages) since April 2009 at two centres including the Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital (for paediatric service) and the University Hospitals of Birmingham (for the adult service). These two centres work together, including on transition planning and work in line with the Alström service specification. There are currently 74 patients on the caseload. NHS England’s Highly Specialised Commissioning team conducts an annual clinical audit meeting with the multidisciplinary team from both providers and the patient group Alström Syndrome UK, the last was held in March 2017.

Circle

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral answer  of 14 November 2017, Official Report column, 143, what estimate he has made of the rates of inflationary increase in NHS tariff costs for musculoskeletal services under the Circle contract to Lewisham and Greenwich Healthcare Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: The Department has made no such assessment as this is a matter for Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group which is responsible for commissioning health services and getting the best value for money for its local population.

G4S: Complaints

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many complaints he has received about ambulance and patient transfer services provided by G4S; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified four complaints received since November 2016 about ambulance and patient transfer services provided by G4S. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.

Mental Illness: Police Custody

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 10.3 of the explanatory memorandum to the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017, whether funding has been provided as detailed in that paragraph.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is making £30 million funding available to improve the provision of places of safety. £15 million of this is for the period 2016-18, and the application process is currently open for local Crisis Care Concordat areas that would like to bid against the £15 million that will be available for the period 2018-20. Information is available at:http://www.crisiscareconcordat.org.uk/beyond-places-safety-bpos/In addition, to support the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, the Department is investing an additional £1 billion in mental health services by 2020 to increase the provision of Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams, to provide mental health support in accident and emergency departments.